GUNSTAR TITANIA
by NOVARAY
Summary: This if the first in a series of stories of what might have been. A fleet has been sent out on an exploration mission into deep space two years before the Fall. What will they find when they return?
1. Chapter 1

**This is a work of fanfiction written purely for entertainment and not for profit.**

**GUNSTAR TITANIA**

**Departure**

Commander Jason Stone waited uncomfortably in the outer office next to Admiral Corman's conference room. He had been waiting for nearly an hour, sitting uncomfortably wondering what the Admiral in charge of the entire Colonial fleet could possibly want with him. He had only recently returned to Picon from a brief survey mission just shy of the Red Line on the Gunstar Ajiat. The mission had lasted four months and had involved surveying over twenty star systems for any trace of Cylon activity.

They had found nothing out of the ordinary, even though they had detected a few shadowy Dradis contacts in several of the systems. Upon closer investigation, the contacts had vanished when the Ajait had begun closing. In those far out systems Jason knew there was some privateer activity. Jason had felt confident it had only been a few privateer vessels out trying to make an easy fortune from the abandoned settlements and mining installations.

The door to the conference room opened and a Colonial officer with the rank of Colonel stepped out. "Commander Stone the Admiral is ready to see you now."

Jason stood up and straightening his uniform walked thorough the open door which the Colonel closed behind him. The Colonel did not enter the conference room and Jason found himself in the large room alone with the Admiral. Jason came to attention and waited for Admiral Corman to recognize his presence.

For a moment, the Admiral continued to shuffle through some papers and then seeming to notice Jason's presence, he stood up and returned the salute. "At ease Commander and have a seat, we have a lot to talk about."

Jason sat down across from the Admiral at the large conference table and turned with an inquisitive look at Admiral Corman. Jason still had no idea why he was here. He felt butterflies in his stomach as he sat waiting.

The Admiral looked at Jason as if studying the young commander before him. Commander Jason Stone, age thirty-two, graduated 2nd in his class at Picon Academy where he had excelled in strategy and fleet logistics. Graduated at the age of 24 and spent the next two years at Caprica Station the large fleet and civilian space station that orbited Caprica, the Capitol of the Colonies. After Caprica Station, he had spent four years on the Battlestar Pacifica where he had risen to the rank of Chief Tactical Officer. After the Pacifica, he had transferred to the Gunstar Ajait as Executive Officer and for the last year had served as the ships Commander.

"I have read the reports on your survey mission. You and your crew did an excellent job surveying the systems in question," Admiral Corman commented pointing to a large file in front of him. "Granted you were not expected to make a real thorough survey of the systems in question, just a general survey to make sure that the Cylons had not ventured beyond the Red Line."

"We saw no traces or evidence to indicate that the Cylons have ventured past the Red Line sir," Jason replied, his eyes meeting the Admirals. "There were only a few old mines and settlements from before the previous war in several of the systems and no firm indications that anyone had returned back to them, either Colonial or Cylon."

"I see in your report that your Dradis officer reported several possible contacts," Admiral Corman said looking down at the open report lying in front of him.

"Yes sir," Jason replied recalling the incidents. "It happened on four different occasions. Each time when we tried to close with the contacts they vanished."

"In your report you suggest it might have been privateers raiding the old abandoned mines and settlements," Admiral Corman continued looking at Jason thoughtfully. "Is that what you still think, after all you didn't see any sign of any activity at any of the old mines or settlements?"

"There was no evidence that it was the Cylons sir," Jason replied remembering the incidents clearly in the back of his mind. "We could not identify the contacts and based on the locations of where the contacts in question occurred, it made more sense that it was privateers."

"Yes I suppose it does," Admiral Corman replied nodding his head in agreement. "Each time it was in a system that contained an old mining settlement or an abandoned small colony. It could very well have been a privateer ship scouting the systems for possible salvage. I suppose we had better increase out fleet patrols in those areas. We wouldn't want privateers to start a new war with the Cylons by straying over the Red Line."

Admiral Corman paused before continuing. In the back of his mind, he wondered if perhaps it had been Cylons that the Commander's ship had detected. That possibility concerned him, particularly if they were venturing past the Red Line. It made what he was about to propose even more pressing.

"Since the last war we have pretty well kept our people here in the three home star systems of Cyrannus with only a few small mining outposts and military bases beyond that," Admiral Corman stated. "What do you think of that policy Commander?"

Jason hesitated a moment weighing his answer. "I feel that it is a mistake sir," Jason replied measuring his words carefully not sure where the Admiral was going with this. "While we are confining ourselves to just the Twelve Worlds the Cylons may be expanding rapidly into the systems beyond the Red Line."

"Perhaps," Admiral Corman replied nodding his head, pleased with the Commanders answer. "But if we establish any new colonies they may be an easy target for the Cylons if they do return. With the fleet reductions of the last few administrations it might be very difficult for us to protect a new colony."

Jason sat quietly knowing that the Admiral was correct. He still was not sure what the Admiral wanted.

"Commander Stone," Admiral Corman continued deciding that the young Commander was exactly whom he wanted for a special mission he had planned. He had checked the young officer's files very carefully and talked to the Commanders of the young officer's previous assignments. All had been very positive, particularly Admiral Clements aboard Caprica Station. "I am launching a deep space survey and colonization mission to the Delphi quadrant. The mission will take about two years and will involve several ships. If we can find a suitable planet, we might launch a major colonizing effort upon completion of the mission. I am offering you command of the mission if you are interested."

"The Delphi quadrant!" Jason replied surprised. The Delphi quadrant was on the opposite side of the Colonies away from the Red Line and would take over two months just to reach. To the best of his knowledge, no one had been out that far in generations.

"Yes the Delphi quadrant," Admiral Corman replied with a slight smile. "If we place a colony there it will be so far away from any Cylon threat that they will never find it. It will allow us to grow and expand our resources in case we reach a day where they are sorely needed."

Jason didn't really have to think too long. He had always dreamed of exploring and the recent survey mission of the Ajait had only increased that desire. "I accept sir," Jason said trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. "I am sure that the rest of my crew on the Ajait will feel the same way."

"Oh yes, the Ajait, well Commander Stone you will not be commanding the Ajait. You will be allowed to transfer part of your crew if you like, but this will be your new command ship." Admiral Corman flipped a switch and the room dimmed. The main view screen lit up displaying a much larger then normal Gunstar, obviously of recent construction, seeming to be floating in space.

"I don't recognize that ship design," Jason said surprised at the ship on the screen as he looked at it closely, noticing two small flight pods attached to it.

"This is the Command Gunstar Titania," Admiral Corman replied with a satisfied smile knowing he had surprised the young Commander. "She is a Titan class Gunstar and the largest and most modern Gunstar ever built. She is twelve hundred meters long, three hundred and fifty meters in width. As you can see, she has two small flight pods similar to a Battlestars. Each flight pod holds eighteen mark 7 vipers and six raptors. She has four heavy kinetic rail guns on the bow, four bow missile tubes, and twelve other missile tubes located along her length. She has twelve medium kinetic dual rail gun turrets capable of independent fire and forty point defense turrets. She also has twenty rapid firing interceptor missile batteries."

"Holy frak!" Jason exclaimed amazed. "She has the firepower of a Mercury class Battlestar!"

"She is also heavily armored and capable of taking a lot of punishment," Admiral Corman continued, pleased with how the new Command Gunstar had turned out. "The Titania is a very expensive ship, and the only ship of her class. We put everything we could think of into her. She has a crew of fourteen hundred with two hundred marines for security."

"Why has no one heard of the Titania?" Jason asked slightly confused. To the best of his knowledge, the government had killed the Titan class calling it too expensive a luxury for the military.

"The Titania has been constructed at a secret fleet facility that no one but a few key fleet personnel knows about. It has not been easy to build the ships we wanted for this exploration effort," Admiral Corman replied, aggravated at what he had gone through to get this accomplished.

"A secret fleet base!" Jason replied surprised. "How is that possible?"

A number of higher ups in the fleet came up with the idea," Admiral Corman replied, thinking back to all the effort that had gone into this. "We siphoned money and materials away from what we saw as wasteful projects that the civilian government wanted."

"Is that safe sir, surely they will notice," Jason commented feeling a little worried about what the Admiral had done and the fact he had just volunteered to become involved in it.

"Even though our fleet budget has been cut drastically over the last few administrations it is still very large," Admiral Corman replied leaning back slightly in his chair. "You would be surprised at just how easy it was to divert the necessary funds and materials."

"I understand the reason for it sir," Jason replied suprised at what had been done. "Especially considering how the current administration feels about the fleet and further exploration." He knew that President Adair wanted the fleet reduced even more and had come out publicly against any excursions outside the Cyrannus system.

"The only way we could make it work, we had to build new military ships that no one in the government knew about," Admiral Corman continued.

"That's the reason for the secret base, to keep the ships secret from the government," Jason said wishing it wasn't necessary to do such a thing.

"As you said, the Colonial government is stoutly against further exploration and has not been willing to allocate any current fleet assets to any type of major exploration or colonization effort," Admiral Corman said with regret in his voice. "That is one other thing Commander, no one in the government knows about this mission and must not learn of it. If the Cylons do return some day, and I believe they will, then this new colonization effort could be our best hope for survival and defeating the Cylons. Are you still interested in the mission?"

Jason thought for a moment. He agreed with much of what the Admiral had just said and he trusted the Admiral. "Yes sir I am. Just tell me where to report." He also wondered if he had said no just what the Admiral's response would have been after all that had been revealed to him.

Admiral Corman stood and so did Jason. "Well in that case since you will be commanding a small fleet I am promoting you to the rank of Rear Admiral and placing you in charge of the Delphi exploration fleet."

Jason felt his heart flutter for a moment. Did Admiral Corman just say he was being promoted to Rear Admiral? Holy frak he thought. He noticed a pleased smile on the Admiral's face.

"If you succeed in your mission Admiral Stone then this promotion will be very well deserved and I have every bit of confidence that you will succeed."

**PART 2**

Admiral Jason Stone stood in the CIC of the Battlestar Valkyrie as she neared a small gaseous nebula. They were a dozen light years away from the Colonies in an area of space abounding in small to large gaseous nebulas. The Valkyrie was currently holding stationary next to a nebula approximately two million kilometers across.

"Is the base inside of this nebula?" Jason asked, turning toward Commander Andrea Kross who was standing next to him watching a large view screen that currently showed a small segment of the gaseous nebula. Commander Kross was in her mid forties and had been Commander of the Valkyrie since Commander Adama had been transferred to the Galactica.

"Yes sir," she replied nodding her head slightly. "We have cleared a safe path to near the center of the nebula where the base is located."

"A safe path," Jason replied starring dubiously at the nebula that seemed to be a solid enough barrier before them. He knew that the gas from the nebula would be quite explosive when exposed to the Tylium residue from the ships sub light drive system. "Then how do we get in?"

Commander Kross smiled. "If you remember we developed some very effective camouflage systems toward the end of the Cylon war. The entrance to the nebula is protected by just such a field. The Commander turned and signaled to the communications officer.

The communications officer sent out a specially coded signal and suddenly an area of the nebula nearly 100 kilometers across vanished showing a clear passage. In its place sat a ring of twenty small defensive satellites and a small Gunstar. Jason recognized it as a Defender class which was 800 meters long, 135 meters wide, with a crew of 600. The Defender class also carried twelve vipers in her landing bay which was located on the underside of the ship. He could see from the Dradis screen that two vipers were currently flying CAP.

"As you can see Admiral the entrance is very well defended as well as impossible to locate when the camouflage field is on," Commander Kross stated with a slight satisfied smile. "Only the Valkyrie and a few other ships have the special code to shut the camouflage field down."

The Valkyrie crept forward followed closely by a fleet personnel ship. The fleet ship carried part of the crew from the Ajait who had volunteered to accompany Admiral Stone as well as some returning personnel to the base.

They were contacted by the patrolling Gunstar and afer a brief conversation with its Commander they continued on. Once past the Gunstar the ship sent out a signal reactivating the camouflage field.

Once inside the nebula the two ships picked up speed and in a matter of an hour, the base came into view.

Jason stared at what lay before him on the Valkyrie's large view screens with stunned amazement. A modified fleet supply station 1,500 meters in diameter seemed to float in space before them. Four large construction bays were attached to the station. Two bays on each side held in place by massive steel lattice works. Two more supply stations of the same size sat back a safe distance from the first surrounded by numerous ships. Jason was surprised to see four new Valkyrie class Battlestars holding position above one of the stations. In the distance behind the stations, he could see what looked like a number of small asteroids.

"Are those new Valkyrie class ships?" Jason asked in surprise, not expecting to find more Battlestars here. From all the ships that were visible on the view screens he was finding it difficult to believe that all this had been accomplished here at this secret base. The amount of effort and materials put into this was astounding.

"Yes," Commander Kross replied adjusting the main view screen so it showed one of the ships in a much-enlarged view. "They have been built for some special mission that Admiral Corman has planned."

Jason studied the ship noticing that it seemed to be much heavier armed then a normal Valkyrie. It also seemed to be covered in a different type of very dark armor. "Is that some type of new armor Commander?"

"Yes sir," Commander Kross replied turning to face Jason. "Supposedly it absorbs Dradis scans making it impervious to detection. Where those ships are going is top secret, no one is talking. The crews have been segregated from the rest of us to insure nothing gets out. Scuttlebutt has it rumored that it has something to do with the Cylons."

The Valkyrie continued toward the second supply station where a large group of ships could be seen below the station and slightly behind it.

"That's your fleet," Commander Kross stated as the view screen switched to show the Titania.

The massive Gunstar filled the screen. Jason held his breath as he gazed at his new command. He knew the ship was 1200 meters in length, with a crew of 1,600 counting the marines. He could see her two small flight pods and the weapon turrets she bristled with. He couldn't wait to get aboard and start getting his crew acclimated to their new ship. Nearly two hundred of his old crew had come with him as well as his Executive Officer Major Carolyn Dyson. Major Dyson was a brunette, with a nice figure, and just a few years older then Jason.

An hour latter Jason and Major Dyson arrived at the Titania's port flight pod in a raptor. Jason felt the raptor touch smoothly down and moments latter the door slid open. Stepping out he found several hundred members of the crew gathered and standing at attention.

Two smartly dressed officers with the rank of Captain and Major stepped forward. "Admiral arriving," the Captain announced in a powerful voice, saluting Jason and Major Dyson. "Captain Aaron Steele reporting sir, I am the ships CAG."

The other officer also saluted, "Major Steffen Franks reporting sir, I am the commander of the Titania's marine complement.

Jason returned the salutes. He knew that Captain Steele was twenty-eight years old and reputed to be one of the best viper pilots in the fleet. Major Franks he didn't know to much about. From his file Jason knew he was reported to be quite competent and an able officer. He was slightly older then Jason and his former commanders had been very positive in their evaluations.

Jason turned his gaze to the assembled crew. He noticed that many seemed quite young with a sprinkling of older seasoned hands. The crew seemed to be evenly split between men and women. Along the walls of the landing bay, he could see a number of Mark 7 vipers and several raptors, all looked brand new without a blemish marring them.

"I am looking forwards to getting to know both of you, we will be working very closely over the next few years," Jason replied. "This is my Exec. Major Dyson."

'We could only assemble part of the crew sir," Captain Steele said. "The bay is just not big enough for everyone."

"That's fine Captain," Jason replied nodding. "We have a lot to do over the next few weeks to get ready for our mission and I am sure I will have plenty of opportunities to meet the rest of the crew."

Turning to the crew, he spoke in a voice strong and confident enough to be heard by everyone that was gathered. "Men and women of the Gunstar Titania, we have been chosen for a journey of exploration the likes of which no ship from the Colonies has embarked upon in generations. In a few weeks, we will be leaving this station and setting forth into the unknown. I know that I can depend on each and every one of you to fulfill your jobs to the best of your ability."

"So say we all," Major Dyson barked, and the crew echoed the words back.

"Captain Steele if you would escort us to the CIC lets get this show on the road," Jason ordered, as the crew was dismissed. "I want to meet with all the ships Captains in the morning. Major Dyson has set up a series of drills that I want the fleet to become familiar with before we depart. We have two weeks to get ready; in that time we have a lot to do. Major Franks I would like to inspect your marines and discuss ship's security sometime tomorrow."

A few minutes latter Jason looked over the Titania's CIC. It was considerably larger then a normal Gunstars and unbelievably modern. State of the art view screens on the front wall presented views of the other ships of the fleet. The large situation table had high definition Dradis and information screens easily accessible. A dozen crew members currently staffed the different stations about the spacious CIC. Jason knew that the normal operating complement of the CIC during the mission would be closer to twenty. Jason had gone through several intense briefings at Picon Fleet Headquarters on the Titania and the rest of the fleet.

Systems Control, Communications, and Damage Control were on the left side of the CIC, while Dradis, Navigation, and Tactical were located on the right. Other stations such as Life Support, Power, Sensor both internal and external, along with other stations were on a second level slightly above and behing the first.

"I understand the ships computers are networked," Jason said turning to Captain Steele.

"Yes sir," the Captain replied. "Lt. Grimm please explain to the Admiral how our computer systems work"

A young blond female Lt. stood and walked over to the Admiral from her consul where she and two Ensigns had been running a diagnostic check on the ships systems. So much was new that she wanted to insure that everything was running lawlessly.

"The computer systems on the Titania are the most up to date in the fleet. They are years ahead of anything you will find in our other warships," she began.

"But isn't it dangerous to have them networked," Major Dyson interrupted. "The Cylons never seemed to have a problem in the war hacking our networked systems, that's why we got away from networking and have kept our computer systems more primitive."

"True," Lt. Grimm replied knowing the old arguments. "In the last few years the fleet has started going back to networking again, but safeguards have been put in place. We have installed new firewalls and other protections that should prevent the Cylons from hacking our networks."

"Bill Adama has refused to allow the Galactica to be networked; he still thinks the Cylons could hack any network if given enough time." Jason commented with a slight smile recalling how Adama felt about networked systems. He had met Commander Adama a few years back and had a lot of respect for the older Commander.

"True sir, but that is where the Titania and the other Gunstars are different," the young blond continued in a patient tone. "Our system has a tremendous set of highly developed firewalls; there is also a backup system that monitors those firewalls for any sign of a breach. If a breach is detected the ships networks are automatically disabled and all stations revert to manual control. The computers will still work but the network will be disconnected."

"What advantage do these systems give us over our old ones?" Major Dyson asked. "I mean why change something that is working just fine in other ships?"

"Easy," Lt. Grimm replied getting to the heart of her explanation. "Our weapons fire is better coordinated giving us more weapons on target, including or KEW batteries and missiles. But most importantly we can compute more accurately our FTL jumps."

"How much further can the jumps be?" Jason asked interested in this information. Computation had always been the limiting factor on FTL jumps.

"A normal FTL jump for a military ship is slightly less then seventeen light years," Lt. Grimm said. "With our new computers we can easily jump twenty five to twenty seven light years accurately, perhaps more depending on the density of the surrounding stars and stellar matter."

"That's a big improvement," Major Dyson commented impressed, thinking about the tactical possibilities.

"Not only that but it also allows for smaller more incremental jumps, which might be useful in combat situations," Lt. Grimm finished knowing this would interest both the Admiral and Major.

"Thank you Lieutenant," Jason said. "When you have time I may have you work with Major Dyson on some strategies involving incremental jumps. I can see where they could have their use."

Jason and Major Dyson spent the rest of the day and part of the evening familiarizing themselves with the Titania and talking to different members of the crew. Their old crew from the Ajait also came aboard and began to be settled in.

Early the next morning Jason stood behind the podium in the conference room looking at the various assembled ship Captains who sat around the table looking at him with curious stares. He knew they were trying to evaluate him wondering just what type of a Commander he would be. There were also a few civilian scientists mixed in including Dr. Andrew Carthews the project head of the civilian and scientific part of the expedition. His assistant Dr. Sylvia Graystone was also present.

Jason looked down at a list lying on the podium, which detailed each individual ship assigned to the fleet and their capabilities. There were 17 ships. The five Gunstars, including the command Gunstar, one Marine transport, 2 fleet Supply ships, 1 fleet Tender, 2 Tylium tankers, 1 Mining ship, 1 Agro ship, 2 Exploration ships, and the two Colony ships. Most of the ships were armed to some extent and the total fleet population was nearly 19,000. He had found out that only the Gunstars and the Colony ships had been built here at the base. The other ships had been brought in from being mothballed at various fleet Anchorages. They had been refurbished, armed, and brought up to date.

Jason looked at the group and began speaking. "In two weeks we will depart and begin our mission. During that time, we will engage in some fleet maneuvers involving our vipers and raptors flying CAP as well as various emergency drills throughout the fleet."

"Are the emergency drills really necessary Admiral?" Dr. Carthews interrupted. "We still have a lot to do on the Colony ships and the two Exploration ships, we don't have time for any more drills."

"Dr. Carthews," Jason replied trying to be patient with the man. He knew the man was supposed to be a brilliant scientist but had very little experience with military matters. "We will be going into an area of space that has not been explored in generations, and even then only few Exploration ships ventured into this area. We will be on our own and cut off from the Colonies. We will have to depend on ourselves to survive if we run into trouble. We can't count on the Colonies sending help."

"I am aware of that Admiral," Dr. Carthew answered frowning slightly. "There were two expeditions that ventured into this area around sixty years ago. They were small one-ship ventures that found very little, no sign of any dangers or anything for us to be worried about. I just don't understand why we have to take all these precautions."

"You just spoke the magic words," Admiral Stone replied. "Small one ship expeditions and they only surveyed a few systems before returning. We will have a much larger fleet and will be stopping at many more systems; we don't know what we may find out there."

"Perhaps the Cylons," Commander Addison of the Gunstar Nebula commented. "We haven't seen them for over 40 years, they could be anywhere."

"The Cylons!" Dr. Carthews said shaking his head dubiously. "I seriously doubt that Commander, the Red Line is in the opposite direction, I don't think we will be seeing any Cylons!"

"Perhaps not," Jason spoke. "But the point is we just don't know and we have to be prepared for anything. I will now be turning this meeting over to Major Dyson who will be explaining the drills we will be going through during the next several weeks, after that I will answer any questions you may have."

Major Dyson took her place at the podium and began going over in some detail just what the fleet would be doing. The civilians frowned when they realized the extent of the drills, the military men only smiled as they could see the thoroughness behind the planning of the drills.

When that was complete, Jason spent some time answering questions and getting to know his ship Commanders a little better. Colonel Adriane Stark of the Marine Assault Vessel Guardian impressed him the most. She seemed very professional and knowledgeable about just what they might be getting into.

"My marines have been specially trained for this mission sir," she said. "We will be accompanying the scientists on all exploration missions to any planets that we may find. We have the necessary equipment and should be able to handle any situation we run into."

"Just what we need," Dr. Andrew Carthews interrupted with sarcasm, "armed marines running around getting in our way. If we have to take marines down on potential planet exploration missions I request that we hold them to a minimum number so as not to foul up or contaminate what we are doing."

"I will make the decision on the marines Dr." Jason replied firmly. "What ever marine force that I and Colonel Stark seem fit will be sent depending on the security situation and there will be no argument about that."

For the next two weeks, the fleet practiced a number of drills, from repairing ship damage to protecting ships that had lost their FTL drives. They practiced various combat formations all in readiness for departure. The only thing that worried Jason was the fact that the area they had to practice in was severely limited.

On the day before departure, he was summoned to the shipyard for a final briefing from Admiral Kronus who was in charge of the secret facility.

"Admiral Stone," the aging Admiral began. "It looks like your fleet is ready for departure."

"Yes sir," Jason replied. "We have completed our drills and all supplies have been loaded."

"As you know Admiral Corman wants this mission completed successfully," Admiral Kronus commented looking appraisingly at the young Admiral. "What you have not been told is that while you are gone I will be building a much larger Colony fleet to go back to what ever starter Colony your fleet has set up."

"A larger Colony fleet that quickly," Jason said surprised. "I was not expecting that, I just thought we would set up a small colony and it would grow more slowly and secretly."

"Oh it will stay a secret but we want to build it up much faster, the very security of our Colonies may well depend on it," Admiral Kronus replied with a slightly worried frown on his face.

"Then you believe that the Cylons are coming back some day too," Jason replied feeling slightly concerned and wondering if there was something he didn't know, perhaps something that had been kept secret from him.

"Yes I do," Admiral Kronus replied looking gravely at Jason. "What we have not told anyone is that we have detected some worrisome signs across the Red Line. Several Battlestars assigned to patrol duty have on occasion detected massive energy bursts, which seem to indicate some type of weapons tests. They have also detected what appear to be new Cylon Capitol ships just on the fringes of Dradis detection."

"What is the civilian government doing about this?" Jason asked worried. "From the last reports I have they still plan on reducing the fleet."

"That is true," Admiral Kronus replied sadly. "They don't believe the reports. They feel it is just the military tying to use fear mongering to free up the purse strings to build more Battlestars. That is why it is so important that you succeed. You have been given the command codes for admittance to this facility upon your return. I will have the main Colony fleet and its escorts ready exactly two years from today. We will be waiting your safe return."

"I won't let you down sir," Jason replied confidently. "We will return on schedule and with our mission accomplished."

The next afternoon the Titania and the other sixteen ships of her fleet moved down the long tunnel inside the nebula. Once outside Jason sent a coded message and the entrance vanished looking like it had never existed.

"Prepare to jump the fleet Major Dyson," he ordered as he studied the Dradis and information screens above the operations table. "Send the jump coordinates to all ships and begin spinning up the FTL drives."

"Yes sir," she replied as she passed on the orders to the FTL navigation officer.

A few minutes latter and the ships were ready. At a nod from Jason, the ships began to vanish until only the Titania remained, one last glance at the now empty screens and Jason gave the order for the Titania to jump. An instant latter she vanished as the FTL system engaged. Their journey of exploration had begun.

**SHIP DESCRIPTIONS**

**Command Gunstar Titania**

1200 meters in length

350 meters in width

250 meters in depth

4 Heavy KEW bow batteries

4 Heavy bow missile tubes

12 Medium KEW twin turrets

12 missile tubes six on each side of the hull

40 point defense turrets

20 rapid fire interceptor missile batteries

36 Mark 7 vipers

12 raptors

Crew of 1400

Marines 200

**Titan Class Gunstar Explorer Class (Searcher, Lodestar, Nebula, Defiant.)**

1000 meters in length

275 meters in width

200 meters in depth

4 Heavy KEW bow batteries

2 Bow missile tubes

6 Medium KEW twin turrets

8 Missile tubes four on each side of the hull

30 Point defense turrets

24 Mark 7 vipers

8 raptors

Crew of 1,100

Marines 125

**Marine Assault Vessel (Guardian)**

1,600 meters in length

400 meters in width

300 meters in depth

4 Medium KEW twin turrets

6 Missile tubes three on each side of the hull

24 Point defense turrets

12 Archangel class bombers

10 Specter class assault shuttles

6 Mark 7 vipers

6 Assault raptors

6 Regular raptors

Crew of 1,200

Marines 2,500


	2. Chapter 2

**Exploration and Discovery**

Rear Admiral Jason Stone was in the CIC of the Gunstar Titania as the ship emerged from FTL into the next system to be explored. In the six weeks since the fleet had left the Colonies they had surveyed dozens of nebula, planets, moons, and asteroid fields. During that time, they had found four colonizable planets and two semi colonizable planets. They had found no trace of any Cylons or Humans.

"All fleet units present sir," Major Dyson reported, she was checking a Dradis screen and several computer information screens suspended above the operations table. Thanks to the new computer system, their jumps were much more precise.

"Very well launch the CAP and reconnaissance raptors, lets see what we have," Jason ordered as the large high definition view screens on the front wall of the CIC began to clear of static and began to show breath taking views of what surrounded them.

The screens showed a brilliant star field and several ships of the fleet. The most prominent was Dr. Carthews Exploration ship Explorer. The Exploration ship was 900 meters long and 200 meters in width. She had a crew of 550 with almost 200 scientists and their families. The ship was a labyrinth of labs, testing facilities, and contained a large astrometrics station. Another screen was centered on a small yellow star, which was the primary of the system.

Jason checked the large Dradis hanging slightly above the center of the operations table and was pleased to see that all ships were in their proper positions. The Titania was at the front of the fleet and the other four Gunstars were in screening positions. The two Colony ships and the two Exploration ships were in the fleet's center.

"No contacts on Dradis," Lt. Everson reported from his position at the main Dradis consul as he and another officer checked the screens that surrounded their workstation. Lt. Everson knew that the Dradis would record any contacts within ten million kilometers of the fleet.

"All communication bands are silent sir," Lt. Johnson reported from her position at communications. She had just completed scans of all normal communication bands and had found only silence and static.

"Cap has been launched and reconnaissance raptors are taking up their positions," Major Dyson reported as she carefully watched the vipers and raptors spread out on the Dradis screen. "We should have extended Dradis capabilities shortly."

"Sir I have Dr. Carthews on the com. He wants to launch his exploration raptors," Lt. Johnson reported glancing at the Admiral.

"I can't believe his lack of patience," Major Dyson said shaking her head and frowning slightly. "He does this at every FTL emergence. Will the man ever learn a little patience?"

"I doubt it," Jason replied with a wane smile. "We haven't found anything dangerous yet and he is getting to complacent."

On the screen, the Dradis suddenly doubled in its coverage as the Dradis information from the outgoing raptors was fed into the Titania's computer system and then into the ship's Dradis system. The Dradis screens still showed no unknown contacts, even though coverage now extended to almost twenty million kilometers.

"Initial astrometrics scan of the system is complete," Lt. Grimm reported from her computer station as she read the data flashing across one of her screens. "Scans show six planets, about a dozen moons, with two small asteroid fields. None of the planets are in the liquid water zone."

"Very well," Jason replied sighing slightly, he had hoped this system would hold another colonizable planet. The star was the right sequence and size, but the planets were just in the wrong positions around it. "Keep the fleet at condition two and tell Dr. Carthews he may launch his exploration raptors. I will expect an hourly update."

In his viper, Captain Steele made a slight turn as he flew down the length of the Titania and then proceeded towards the Explorer as the exploration raptors began launching from her single launch bay, which ran underneath the large ship. He counted as six raptors launched and watched critically as they moved away from the fleet. Once they were a safe distance they engaged their FTL drives and disappeared. The exploration raptors were specially designed and twice the size of a regular raptor. He knew they contained a lot of high tech scanning equipment.

"Six exploration raptors confirmed launched and FTLs engaged," he reported to the Titania.

"Confirmed 6 birds away," Lt. Johnson replied.

"All vipers continue CAP patrols," Captain Steele ordered as he flew his viper through the fleet checking each ship for any signs of problems. His wingman flew above and slightly behind him. He knew that two other pairs of vipers were also flying a deeper CAP outside the fleet's perimeter. They would stay on station for two hours then return to the Titania for the next rotation.

Jason stayed in the CIC for abut an hour. Once he was satisfied everything was proceeding smoothly, he retired to his quarters to catch up on his paperwork. Setting down at his desk, he studied the pile of reports in front of him. They were currently 400 light years from the Colonies and almost on the edge of the Delphi quadrant. Jason figured another four weeks at their current pace and they would reach the area where the main part of their exploration would commence.

Once they entered the Delphi Quadrant, their pace would slow down considerably as they would begin a more thorough exploration. He looked at the picture of the Ajait on his desk amazed at how much things had changed in the last few months. He had always dreamed of exploring and now that dream was coming true.

They had already found resources that would be valuable to the Colonies. Exploration raptors had mapped numerous heavy mineral deposits, some small Tylium asteroids, and even a few habitable planets. They had developed a standard routine for exploration that seemed to be working very well.

The crew had settled in and were doing their jobs satisfactorily. The ship had many young and inexperienced personnel on board. Fortunately, they had just the right mix of older and experienced hands to bring the young crew along quickly. Even the crew in the CIC was quite young. Lt. Everson, Lt. Johnson, Lt. Grimm, and many others were in their mid twenties, but they were exceptionally bright and all hard workers. They had helped to develop the routine now used in their exploration activities.

They would jump into a system and take initial scans. Exploration raptors would be launched to explore the system and catalogue its resources. Once everything was well underway, six more exploration raptors supported by armed fleet raptors would jump to the nearer star systems and begin exploration. If anything interesting was found then an Exploration ship escorted by a Gunstar would be dispatched. That way at every jump point, they could survey seven star systems before the fleet jumped to the next star on their list.

Jason had spent nearly three hours pouring over reports and updating his log when he was interrupted by a com message. "Admiral report to the CIC we have a situation with an exploration raptor," Major Carolyn Dyson's calm professional voice spoke."

"Anything serious?" Jason asked pressing the button on his com wondering what had happened.

"Nothing imminent sir," Major Dyson replied. "But the exploration raptor is claiming to have found a destroyed Colony in the star system they jumped into. The fleet raptor stayed behind to monitor the planet and take more detailed scans."

"A destroyed Colony!" Jason replied in surprise raising his eyebrows. He didn't know of any Colony that had ever been established out this far, something didn't seem right. "Have my raptor prepped. I will be going over to the Explorer to debrief the crew of the exploration raptor. I want to know exactly what they found. Also double the size of the CAP and recall the other exploration raptors in the system. Send out raptors to recall the other exploration raptors in the other star systems as well. Until we find out what is going on I want to keep all ships close in."

"Very well sir," Major Dyson replied.

An hour latter Jason sat in a conference room on the Explorer looking at footage from the fly over of the planet in question. The footage showed a habitable planet, or what used to be a habitable planet. The cities were in ruins. From the craters in the center of the cities it was evident they had been hit by nuclear blasts.

"From the data we have looked at it seems that this was a heavily populated planet with a population of well over 200 million people," Dr. Carthews commented as he stared appraisingly at the screen. He was 55 years old and had never saw destruction like this. There was nothing in the Cylon war of 40 years ago, that would even compare.

"The entire planet is like this?" Jason asked suspecting he already knew the answer.

"Yes, from everything we have seen and the data we have looked at the entire planet was devastated," Dr. Carthews replied running a hand through his gray hair and looking at the Admiral. "I doubt if anyone could have survived a nuclear attack of this magnitude for long."

"How recent was this attack, could it have been the Cylons?" Jason asked feeling worried. If the Cylons were way out here, it could seriously endanger their exploration fleet. It would also mean that the Cylons were occupying a much larger section of space then Fleet HQ. had feared.

"I don't believe so," Dr. Sylvia Graystone replied pressing several buttons on a computer consul freezing the image and zooming in on a large city. "If you look closely you can see where the vegetation has already overgrown much of the perimeter of the city. In addition, many of the buildings have collapsed from age. I would make a preliminary guess that this destruction occurred at least 500 years ago."

"500 years!" Jason exclaimed shocked, not expecting this. "Then they couldn't have come from the Colonies!"

"We are not absolutely sure about the time involved," Dr. Carthews broke in frowning at Dr. Graystone. "We will need to do a more in depth study of the planet and see what records we can recover."

"A human Colony out this far," Jason said slowly trying to understand its implications.

"Who said it was human," Dr. Carthews said unexpectedly.

"Aliens," Jason replied shaking his head doubtfully. "In all the years since our ancestors left Kobol we have never found any trace of another space traveling species."

"It had to happen sometime," Dr. Graystone replied leaning forward trying to make a point. "It's ridiculous to believe that we are the only intelligent species in the universe. This could be it."

"What do you suggest?" Jason asked waiting to see what the scientists wanted to do. This was not a situation that he and Admiral Corman had discussed in the briefings for the exploration fleet. He doubted whether the scientists had either.

"Take the fleet to the system indicated," Dr. Carthews replied quickly, wanting to get down to the planet's surface and begin to solve this mystery. "This war occurred far in the past and there should be no danger to the fleet. We need to find out what happened out here!"

"It's a new civilization Admiral," Dr. Graystone commented with excitement in her voice. "We might be able to find intact records and who knows what else. It could open up a whole new realm of discoveries and research."

Jason thought for a moment. He didn't like the idea of exposing the entire fleet to an unknown danger. However, he did agree that if they were to continue to explore and possibly colonize the Delphi quadrant then it was expedient to discover what had destroyed this world. Any discoveries or new technologies would truly be an added bonus.

"At least let the Explorer go," Dr. Carthews continued starting to sound impatient. "You can send a Gunstar or two as escort!"

Jason stood up reaching a decision. "The Explorer will go but it will be escorted by the Titania and the Marine Assault ship Guardian. If I see any sign of danger we will leave the system immediately and return here."

"The marines," Dr. Carthews replied disgustedly. "Is that necessary, this world is dead, there will be no danger. We don't need the marines trudging around everywhere. They will just be in the way!"

"That is my decision Dr." Jason replied firmly. "We leave in two hours so make your preparations. The rest of the fleet will stay here and continue their exploration of this system."

Two hours later the Titania, Guardian, and Explorer jumped into the designated system. Jason felt the normal queasiness associated with an FTL jump even though this one was only a few light years. As the ship's systems stabilized and came back on line, he saw a planet floating on the main view screen. The world was a patchwork of green, blue, and brown.

"We are in orbit around the target planet," Major Dyson reported from her position by the navigation officer where she had been watching the jump. "The Explorer is off our port side in her assigned position and the Guardian is behind and slightly above her."

"Launch the CAP and keep us at condition two," Jason ordered as he looked at the Dradis screen, which showed nothing except the other two fleet ships and the single raptor that was still in the system. The raptor was just coming around the perimeter of the planet. A few asteroids and possibly several dead satellites also orbited the planet with them.

"Raptor T-4 is requesting permission to land," Lt. Johnson reported. .

"Permission granted," Jason replied. "Let's see if they found anything else."

"Sir, Dr. Carthews is requesting permission to begin sending teams down to the surface," Lt. Johnson reported knowing the Admiral would not be happy with the Drs. continued persistence.

"Transfer him to me," Jason ordered frowning and feeling slightly aggravated at the Dr. One of these days the scientists impatience was going to get someone hurt or even killed. Jason picked up his com unit to speak to the impatient scientist. "Dr. Carthews we will not be sending anyone down to the planet for a while. I want detailed scans of the entire planet as well as this system. When I am satisfied that everything is safe we will begin landings."

"But that will take hours," Dr. Carthews objected. "We should begin sending down teams immediately to find out what happened here and whether this is a human or an alien colony."

"Dr. Carthews from the reports of the original exploration raptor we know there are seven other planets in this system as well as numerous moons and asteroid fields," Jason replied trying not to sound too irritated.

"I am aware of that," Dr. Carthews replied impatiently. "But we should focus our immediate attention on the planet below; we can explore the rest of the system later."

Jason replied firmly. "Finish your scans of the planet and send your exploration raptors to survey the rest of the system. Each will be accompanied by an armed raptor from the Titania. Once all that is done and we are in agreement about the safety of our current situation then we can begin sending down teams."

"Very well Admiral," Dr. Carthews replied sounding disappointed and knowing he had lost the argument. You couldn't argue with the military.

Once his conversation with Dr. Carthews was complete, Jason addressed the crew of the CIC. "I want detailed scans of the planetary surface and surrounding space. If there are any old satellites in orbit, I want to know about them. I expect a detailed report on your findings in two hours."

Out in space Captain Steele was piloting his viper in a high orbit above the planet. He had eight vipers out on CAP plus six raptors providing extended Dradis capability. Aaron looked down at the planet below feeling the excitement about what they might soon discover.

"Do your really think this might be an alien colony?" Lt. Emily Ashton asked over their short-range com link.

"I don't know," Aaron replied, he thought he could see what might be a large blue ocean through the clouds. "We will just have to wait to see what the scientists have to say."

"I hope it's aliens," Lt. Ashton said excitedly. "That would really make things exciting."

"Perhaps," Aaron replied smiling to himself at Emily's excitement, as the two vipers began to go around the far side of the planet. "But remember this planet has been in a war, I just wonder where the people are who won."

"Perhaps they wiped each other out," Emily replied, looking down at her Dradis screen as it beeped a low-key warning. "Captain I am picking something up on my Dradis in high orbit of the planet."

"I am to," Aaron replied as his Dradis now showed the object. Flipping the communications link back to the open position, he contacted the Titania.

"Titania this is Hotshot in viper Blue one we have a target on the far side of the planet in high orbit," Aaron reported.

"One moment Hotshot, we are directing a raptor to scan the area to see what you have," Major Dyson's controlled and calm voice came back over the com. "We detected something there earlier as well but had assumed it was a small asteroid."

There were several moments of silence before she came back on. "It seems to be some type of wreckage; the raptor is not picking up any power readings on its scans. You are cleared for a flyby to see what it is."

"Confirmed for a flyby," Aaron replied. "Alright Lt. lets see what we have."

The two raptors kicked in their afterburners and moved quickly toward the target. As they neared, they could see that it was a wrecked spacecraft about half the size of a normal Gunstar or about 400 meters in length. The ship had been in a battle and had numerous burn marks, indentations, and jagged holes across the hull, in one area there was a rupture almost the size of a raptor. KEW turrets and what look liked missile tubes were plainly visible.

"Titania the ship is definitely a warship, she is heavily damaged and we can see numerous weapon turrets," Aaron reported as he gazed at the wreck.

"She was really hit hard," Lt. Ashton commented as she gazed at the damage. "I wonder if anyone survived."

"That's one thing we will probably never know," Aaron responded looking at the wreck. "Let's check the other side of the ship."

As they turned and began flying along the other side of the ship Aaron could see writing on one section of the hull near the bow.

"Athena," he read aloud. "That's in Kobolan," he exclaimed shocked.

"Kobolan, then that means this is a human colony," Lt. Ashton replied with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Will you confirm that Hotshot," Major Dyson ordered over the com. "Did you say the writing on the ship's hull says Athena?"

"That's affirmative," Aaron replied shaking his head in disbelief.

"There was silence from the Titania and then Major Dyson's voice returned. "Hotshot, the raptor has detected another target in a slightly higher orbit beyond the ship you have found. It's another hundred and twenty kilometers ahead of you, proceed and investigate."

"Yes sir," Aaron replied wondering what they would find next. "Let's go Lt. and see what else we have."

A few minutes latter, they closed in on the second target and Aaron felt an icy hand suddenly grip his heart. The second ship was a wreck also and nearly twice the size of the previous wreck. However, what worried him was that this wreck did not look like a human designed ship. It was also covered in burn marks and jagged holes where munitions had entered and exploded damaging the ship mortally. However, that was where all resemblance to the other ship ended.

This ship was more the shape of a dumb bell and was covered with massive gun turrets. There were also what looked like numerous missile tubes. The end of the ship contained six massive engine pods. From the look at the ships engines, the drive system was definitely different from the other wreck.

"Titania, the second ship may be of alien origin," Aaron said clearly and carefully. "The ship has a different configuration then the first and what looks like a totally different drive system. It is also heavily armed and was probably engaged in battle with the other ship."

"I wonder if they destroyed each other?" Lt. Ashton said.

There was silence for a moment and then Major Dyson's voice came back over the com. "Very well Hotshot. We are sending the raptor in for some close in scans, stay with the raptor until the scans are complete and then resume your patrol, Titania out."

"So we may have aliens after all," Emily commented switching back to the short-range com link and sounding pleased.

"Perhaps Emily." Aaron replied. "We will let the scientists figure that one out."

Aboard the Titania Admiral Stone and Major Dyson only stared thoughtfully at one another at the ramifications of what Captain Steele may have discovered. The other members of the CIC crew were silent as they went about their jobs wondering just what they had found.

"Do you really think it's an alien ship sir?" Major Dyson asked still finding it hard to believe what Captain Steele had reported. In all of her 34 years, she had never expected to find something like this.

Several other members of the CIC turned wanting to hear what Admiral Stone had to say about this surprising and astonishing development. Most could not believe that it was an alien ship. This was like something they might read in a sci-fi novel.

"I don't know Major," Jason replied wondering how best to proceed. Finding an alien ship was not something he had been prepared for. "But what we do know is that a war was fought here long ago and the people down on the planet lost. I just wonder where the victors are or were they wiped out too?"

Everyone in the CIC was silent for a moment. Lt. Everson glanced nervously at his Dradis screen feeling relieved when it showed no additional contacts.

"Once all system scans are complete I want salvage crews sent to those two ships," Jason ordered wanting to get this mystery solved. "I want maximum bio hazard procedures followed. Especially if that is an alien ship!"

"Yes sir," Major Dyson replied. This sounded like a job for Major Stark's marines she thought, as she pressed the com to pass on the orders to him. They would send a few system specialists along as well to ascertain the technology level of the two ships. It shouldn't take but a brief inspection to determine if the second ship was indeed alien.

Four hours later, initial scans of the system were complete and all exploration raptors had reported. On several of the moons in the system they had found signs of mining activities, all far in the past and most destroyed by nuclear strikes. Several large asteroids had also been found that had excavations on them. Jason was on the Explorer reviewing the information with Dr. Carthews.

"Our preliminary scans indicate that this planet had a population of slightly in excess of 400 million, from the architecture and layout of the cities we are confident that this is a human colony," Dr. Carthews stated laying down a paper he had been studying which was covered with empirical data on the planets atmosphere and surface radiation levels.

"How did a human colony get way out here?" Jason asked feeling confused. "No where in the histories of the Colonies is there any mention of a colonization effort of this size."

"Not from the Colonies," Dr. Carthews spoke definitively. "Our analysis of the background radiation confirms this planet was destroyed approximately five hundred years ago."

"Five hundred years!" Jason echoed shocked. "Then who colonized this planet?"

"Isn't it obvious," Dr. Carthews replied allowing an excited look to appear on his face. "We have found another colony from Kobol, perhaps setup before or right after the Exodus! It's the only explanation for a population this large."

Jason was silent for a moment feeling almost over whelmed at the ramifications. Another colony from Kobol, just what had they gotten themselves into he wondered. "You may begin landing your teams Dr. However, they will be accompanied by marines from the Guardian. None of your people are to go anywhere without a marine escort."

"Very well Admiral," Dr. Carthews replied resigned to the marines and still not pleased about the situation. "I just hope they don't get in the way!"

"I also would like to know when my people can have access to the alien ship you have found?" Dr Carthews asked, upset that the Admiral had not told him about it immediately when it had been found.

"We have a survey crew on the ship currently Dr." Jason replied. "As soon as we have deemed it safe you may have access, not before."

Upon returning to the Titania Jason stepped back into the busy CIC. "Major Dyson dispatch a raptor to bring the rest of the fleet to this system. If this planet was destroyed 500 years ago there should be no danger to the fleet."

"Yes sir," she replied. "I also received a report from the survey crew on the alien ship. The survey crew has found a number of preserved bodies, which resemble insects with very big multi fauceted eyes and they are slightly larger then a human. Most of the ship is in a vacuum and seems to be very well preserved."

"Let's keep that quiet for now until we know more," Jason ordered not wanting to panic the fleet. "Once we have a better understanding of what happened here I will make a general announcement about the aliens."

"I wouldn't wait to long sir or the rumors will be flying," Major Dyson warned.

"Thank you Major," Jason replied knowing he needed to say something soon. "After the scientists get to the alien ship and can give us something definite, we will let the fleet know."

Later that day after the rest of the fleet arrived, Jason made his surprising announcement. An alien warship had been found and was probably responsible for part of the destruction on the planet below. However, the attack had been over 500 years ago so there was no reason to be alarmed.

For the next several days, the fleet fell into a routine. Shuttles and raptors were steadily going to and from the planet. Nearly three hundred scientists, survey teams, and marines were down on the surface searching through the ancient cities. Of high interest were any ancient data systems that could reveal a clue as to what had happened, particularly on who had attacked this world and where the attackers were located.

One thing of interest that Jason had found was the results of the study of the two ships. One was definitely human and with a technology level equivalent to the twelve Colonies. However, the other ship presented some enigmas.

The alien ship's lighting system was very different from human norm and shifted more towards the infrared part of the spectrum, the atmosphere of the ship seemed to have been much denser then Colonial normal. The sub light drive system was also much more powerful then even the Titania's. Preliminary data seemed to indicate that the ships technology was slightly ahead of the Colonies.

Dr. Carthews and Dr. Graystone stepped into the conference room where Jason, Major Dyson, Colonel Stark, and Captain Steele waited. They took their seats and looked inquiringly at the Admiral.

"You requested this meeting," Jason commented waiting on the scientists. "It sounded like you had discovered something urgent."

"Not urgent but something amazing," Dr. Carthews replied almost smugly. "We have finally found some data storage units on the planet that we could access in an undergound government facility. Most of the data files were corrupted from being idle so long but we did recover enough to piece together what happened here."

"Do we know who attacked this world?" Colonel Stark asked. "His troops had found massive evidence of not only nuclear strikes but what looked like heavy ground fighting as well. Destroyed armored vehicles and other rusted weapons were littered across vast sections of the countryside in some areas.

"They were from the planet Carillon and are an insect related race," Dr. Graystone replied.

"Intelligent insects, you have got to be fraking crazy," Captain Steele uttered in shock. He had heard rumors that the aliens were insects but he hadn't believed them.

"No we are quite serious," Dr. Graystone replied handing a report and some photographs over to Jason. "We did manage to recover a few bodies from the destroyed alien ship and perform some autopsies. They are definitely insects."

"So what happened?" Jason asked. "What started this war?"

"A human survey ship stumbled upon the planet Carillon," Dr. Carthews began. "It seems that this planet is unique as it has massive deposits of Tylium on it. Something we have never discovered before. Tylium normally is found only on asteroids or on small moons. However, this planet Carillon has an abundance of it, plus large deposits on an orbiting moon. That is what drew the ship to the system; they were searching for new Tylium deposits."

"A mineral survey and it caused a war?" Colonel Stark remarked finding it hard to believe.

"Yes, the people of Carillon are called the Ovion and are a very ancient race," Dr. Graystone replied shuffling through several papers in front of her. "From the initial reports of the Kobolans, that we have been able to recover, the Ovions evolved very slowly and so did their technology. They were very fearful of other races, even though it seems that the Kobolans may have been the only ones they ever encountered."

"The survey ship frightened them," Captain Steele said with dawning realization. "They were already fearful of contact with another species and when it happened they went off the deep end."

"Precisely, the inhabitants of the planet feared that the humans wanted to conquer their planet and take the Tylium," Dr. Graystone continued. "They had built their entire civilization around it. Therefore, the war started with a pre-emptive strike against the human world that had sent the exploration ship. The result below is what occurred. The planet was nearly wiped out."

"A pre-emptive strike," Major Dyson commented shaking her head. "Sounds like something the fraking Cylons would do."

"So that's what happened, the aliens wiped out the humans below in a surprise attack," Colonel Stark stated. "From the ruins we have seen on the surface, there must have been a lot of ground fighting also. These Ovions must have wanted every human dead!"

"Not quite," Dr. Carthews replied almost too casually. "You see this was not the only human colony, nor was it their main one. There are or were five other inhabited human worlds."

"Five other worlds," Jason gasped startled at the implications. "Do we know their positions?"

"Yes we do," Dr. Carthews replied. We also know where the planet Carillon is located. However, I would not suggest going there until we know more about what happened to the other inhabited human worlds. "I would suggest we abandon our efforts below and move on to their home system."

"And where is this home system?" Major Dyson asked wondering just what they had stumbled upon.

"It's eight light years from here," Dr. Graystone replied and then she paused. "Its name is New Kobol."

"Holy frak," was all that Captain Steele could say.

**Exploration Ships. (Explorer, Star Search)**

Length 900 meters

Width 200 meters

Depth 150 meters

1 Medium KEW twin turret on the bow.

2 Medium KEW twin turrets across upper hull.

2 missile tubes on the bow

12 point defense batteries

Crew of 500

Scientists and research personnel 200

Scientist families 325

Marines 50

10 Exploration Class 2 raptors. Crew of six capable of long-range reconnasaince.


	3. Chapter 3

**New Kobol**

Two days later the entire exploration fleet entered the New Kobol system, preliminary raptor surveys had already shown that this system had been destroyed. It also showed a much higher level of industrialization. There were eleven planets in the system, two of them habitable as well as several large moons with breathable atmospheres. Two massive asteroid belts lay between several of the huge gas giants in the outer part of the system.

Jason, Major Dyson, Major Franks, and Captain Steele were all in the CIC as the Titania and the rest of the fleet took up high orbit above the planet New Kobol. Below them, the planet lay swathed in white clouds with brown, green, and blue scattered about. On the view screens, they could see several large blue oceans. However, what really surprised them were the number of wrecked and damaged ships in orbit. A massive space battle had been fought in high orbit above the planet. There were dozens of destroyed ships, both Kobolan and Ovion.

The crew in the CIC only stared in stunned amazement at what the view screens showed. Never had they seen so many destroyed and damaged ships in one place. Perhaps back during the Cylon war there may have been something like this but not since.

"Major Dyson I want raptors out continuously, if necessary rotate with the other ships," Jason commanded his eyes sweeping across the CIC making sure everyone was focusing on their duties. "I want our Dradis range extended to the maximum as long as we are in orbit above this planet."

"Yes sir," she replied as she moved to follow his orders.

"Captain Steele, we don't know the current status of the Ovions and I don't want to risk sending a raptor or Gunstar into their system until we have more information," Jason continued wishing he knew more about the Ovion situation.

Jason wished he knew more about the Ovions and their capabilities, particularly if they had survived the war. Perhaps they could find out part of that information on the planet below. "I want full CAP patrols continuously plus half a squadron on standby in the ready room in case they are needed."

"Yes sir," Aaron replied. "I will take care of it."

Jason also contacted the other Gunstar Commanders and ordered the Gunstars to shift positions, placing all the Gunstars in orbit slightly above the fleet. That put all the other fleet ships between the planet and the warships. That should allow them some protection if needed, or at least buy them some time if they had to jump out suddenly.

Commander Addison of the Gunstar Nebula did suggest they set up several sets of emergency coordinates for the fleet to jump to in case the Ovions did show up. Normally the fleet only had one set but he felt it prudent in this situation to have two just to be on the safe side.

"If they make an appearance sir we have no idea of their current capabilities," Commander Addison commented over the com to Jason. "We know that 500 years ago their technology was already slightly ahead of ours. If they did survive who knows what they might have now."

"According to the information we found in the other system their learning curve is very slow," Jason replied but knowing it was prudent to take additional precautions. "Hopefully if we do encounter the Ovions they won't be much more advanced then when they attacked these colonies. But I do agree that an additional set of jump coordinates would be wise in case the situation here goes in the tank. Have the Exploration ships send out their exploration raptors and scout the star systems back toward the Delhi quadrant. That's away from the Ovion's home world. We want several sparse systems that we can jump to in case of an emergency."

"I will make the arrangements," Commander Addison replied.

Jason did take one other precaution; at least two of the Gunstars were to stay at condition two at all times. This would allow for a swift and instant response to any attack if needed. He hoped the precaution was unnecessary.

"We have initiated surface scans," Lt. Grim reported as she and her two system technicians watched the information beginning to come in over their computer screens.

"Major Dyson, contact the Explorer and have them send teams to the damaged ships in orbit," Jason ordered looking at the Dradis and the large number of damaged ships that it showed. "I want them accompanied by marines from the Guardian. Tell Colonel Stark to send technical teams with his marines. Lt. Grimm as soon as the surface scans are complete coordinate with Dr. Carthews and Dr. Graystone and pick our first landing site!"

Several hours later, Captain Steele and Lt. Ashton were piloting a raptor down toward the planet's surface looking for a suitable landing site. They were trying to land near the Capitol City of the planet. From the information gathered in the other system, the cities name was Lysteria.

"The planet looks so beautiful from up here," Emily said with sadness in her voice knowing that millions perhaps several billion people had died on this world.

"It must have been a wonderful place to live," Aaron replied as he found what looked like a large airfield of some type in the perimeter of the city. It would make a perfect landing spot. The landing field was surrounded by a brown and green landscape with a small lake off to one side.

"Do you really thing they came from Kobol before the Exodus?" Emily asked trying to recall what the holy words of Pythia spoke of in regards to other colonies. As a child, her mother had taught her many of the ancient teachings, but that seemed like so long ago. She could still remember going to the great temples of Gemenon and listening to the prayers and teachings with her mother.

"That's what Dr. Graystone is saying," Aaron replied as he made a slow circle of the landing field. He could see several wrecked remains of twisted tarnished metal that must have been some of the craft that had once used this airfield.

"How strange to find fellow Kobolans so far from the Colonies," Emily commented as she pointed with her finger toward a large flat area that she thought would make a good landing site. "That looks like a good place. We can set up camp and there is plenty of room for the other shuttles and raptors."

Aaron set the raptor down smoothly without the slightest jar. "Ok let's check outside and see what we have."

A few minutes latter Aaron and Emily stood in a small grassy area next to the landing strip. Behind them, the squad of marines that had accompanied them fanned out and began setting up a defensive perimeter. Already Aaron could hear the sound of other raptors and shuttles descending through the air.

"Everything smells so different then on the ship," Emily giggled as she bent down and ran her hands through the grass. "I hope we get to spend some leave time down here on the planet."

"Once we determine that everything is safe I am sure that the Admiral will permit that," Aaron replied, smiling at Emily as she took off her combat boots and proceeded to walk barefoot through the grass. The young Lt. always had a way of making him smile. She reminded him so much of his younger sister back on the Colonies, perhaps that was why he permitted the use of their first names with each other. His younger sister was currently enrolled at Picon Academy studying to become an officer in the fleet.

Sylvia Graystone stepped out of the shuttle she had flown down on looking out over the scene around her. Six shuttles, four raptors, and two Specter Assault shuttles were down on the landing field. From the Assault shuttles two full platoons of marines exited. The back ramp of the two marine shuttles slowly opened and then descended to the ground. From these four heavily armed Landrams descended and immediately took up defensive positions out away from the shuttles. From the other shuttles and raptors scientists, technicians, and other fleet personnel were beginning to make an appearance.

"So this is New Kobol," a young excited female voice spoke from behind her.

Turning Sylvia saw Lt. Johnson, the Titania's communication officer, standing in the open doorway of the shuttle. The Lt. was in charge of setting up a field communications center to be used to communicate with the orbiting fleet.

"Yes this is New Kobol Lt." Sylvia replied smiling at the young woman. "A planet settled by people from Kobol itself many years ago. Who knows what we may find here."

"At least you got to come down to the planet first," Lt. Johnson commented with a wry grin as she gazed at Sylvia. "I understand Dr. Carthews is exploring the wrecks in orbit."

"Yes, they found a truly large Kobolan ship, larger then the Titania that looked nearly intact," Sylvia replied remembering the conversation she and Dr. Carthews had before she came down from orbit. "The Dr. believes that the ship might have the best possibility of having functioning computers still on board, particularly if the inside is in a vacuum."

"I guess we better get to work," Lt. Johnson replied with a sigh. "Admiral Stone will want communications set up as quickly as possible. He doesn't want to depend on the raptors and shuttles for communication since they will be constantly going back and forth. He wants a permanent communications center where all messages and information can be coordinated."

Several days later Major Dyson was with a small party of scientists and marines walking through the ruins of the Capitol City. From over head scans, two nukes had hit the sprawling city destroying or damaging many of its buildings. Estimates placed the population of the city slightly above six million at the time of the attack.

"We have found a lot of interesting artifacts Major Dyson," Dr. Graystone commented as they walked down a street that still contained some massive towering sky scrappers.

Rusted remains of vehicles were everywhere and from their almost unrecognizable condition, it was impossible to tell how they had operated. They had to literally weave a path between the rusted out remains in some sections of the street. Looking up, Major Dyson noticed that very few of the windows were still intact in the tall buildings and large cracks could be seen in many of the walls and foundations. It would be only a matter of a few more decades or a century at most before these towering buildings collapsed.

"You can call me Carolyn while we are on the ground," Major Dyson replied with the hint of a slight smile. "As long as it's just you and me Carolyn will be fine."

"Great, you can call me Sylvia," Dr. Graystone replied chuckling. "I understand the militaries need for protocol, my father was a Captain in the marines on Picon."

"Have you discovered anything of interest," Carolyn asked as they stopped in front of a large building that looked like it might have housed some type of government agency.

"Oh yes," Sylvia replied with enthusiasm. "We found an intact museum on the western edge of the city. We now know that dissidents from Kobol colonized this planet approximately twenty years before the Exodus."

"That's over two thousand years ago," Carolyn said thoughtfully. "Why did they come here?"

"Kobol was becoming polluted and its resources deplenished," Sylvia replied remembering what they had found in the museum's bottom levels. "There was so much fighting going on between the thirteen tribes, that many were afraid they were going to destroy the planet. In the end, a small colonization fleet of twenty thousand dissidents secretly left Kobol to start over on a world they could live on in peace. There were people from every tribe in the fleet."

"Twenty thousand and they built all this, New Kobol and their other colonies," Carolyn responded quietly, amazed at what had been accomplished."

"It's sad that they fled a war to only be destroyed by war," Sylvia replied sorrowfully. "They could have taught us so much!"

Six days later Jason was in a raptor flying low over the planet as they approached a mountainous region. Below him, huge craters designated nuclear impact points. Preliminary surveys had found over one thousand such points scattered across the planet. Most of the planetary vegetation had grown back but the centers of the craters were still little more then barren rock. A few moments later, the raptor set down in a large clearing next to a small mountain and Jason stepped out onto the planet for the first time.

"Admiral Stone," Dr. Graystone spoke walking out to the raptor and greeting Jason. "I am so glad you could come down to the surface. What we have found is truly amazing."

"That's what I have been told," Jason replied taking a deep breath of the fresh air and enjoying the feeling of having his feet back upon the solid surface of a planet.

"If you would follow me we have quite a long walk ahead of us," Dr. Graystone said gesturing toward a path that led toward the mountain.

Jason followed Dr. Graystone along a dirt path and to a large excavated tunnel that led into the small mountain. Two heavily armed marines stood at the entrance snapping to attention as Jason approached. Jason acknowledged the salute and then followed Dr. Graystone into the brightly lit tunnel. Lights had been affixed to the ceiling and he could hear a small Tylium generator running in the distance.

"It was just a sheer coincidence that we discovered this complex," she explained as they walked deeper into the mountain. We were doing subsurface scans on a city near here and the raptor pilot forgot to turn the scanning equipment off as they returned to base. When we checked the scans we found that this mountain hid an immense underground installation."

"What is it? Jason asked curiously, they had neglected to tell him just what they had found when he had been contacted on the Titania. He was told that it was important and that he should come down to the surface to be briefed.

"We think it's their planetary command and operations center!" Dr. Graystone replied excitedly. "We believe it might have survived undetected for months or even for several years after the destruction. Dr. Carthews is still going over information on computer disks that he has located."

Jason hoped they had found some useful information, the ships in orbit had been a bust, their crews had wiped most of the computers. Jason suspected this was a standard procedure, just as it was in the Colonial fleet.

Nearly twenty minutes latter she led him into a large operations chamber, Jason paused in near disbelief at what lay before him. A huge chamber nearly two hundred meters across containing hundreds of computer terminals, communication equipment, and one wall covered with huge view screens surrounded him.

"Does any of this still work?" Jason asked looking around at everything in the massive chamber. It reminded him of the enormous underground fleet headquarters on Picon. Admiral Corman had shown him the main operations center when he was being briefed on the Delphi Exploration project.

"No, there has been no power for centuries," Dr. Graystone replied shaking her head. "However we have been successful at accessing some of the complexes data bases and stored information, they are in a sealed vault down below the complex and are relatively intact. There is also a complete book library."

"Books! Jason said surprised, he had always been an avid reader. "Those should be useful, what's being done with them?"

"We are in the process of packing them up and taking them to the Explorer and the Star Search where we can copy their contents to our computer files," Dr. Graystone replied. "The books are quite old and we're afraid if they are handled to much they could be seriously damaged. So we will scan their contents to our computer files to be studied later."

"Excellent," Jason replied pleased with the discovery. Once these books were scanned to their computer files he wouldn't mind looking over them himself. He enjoyed reading and this might be some very good an interesting reading, an entire culture of humans that had never been exposed to Colonial society.

"We think the library was for the people who lived in this complex," Dr. Graystone continued. There are books of every type, from works of fiction to detailed historical references."

Jason and Dr. Graystone continued to tour the large complex. Two heavily armed marines followed them at a discreet distance making sure the Admiral never left their sight. His safe return was their number one priority.

"Have we found anything else useful upon the surface?" Jason asked knowing that many artifacts were being hauled up from various sites to the two Exploration ships.

"The war was around 500 years ago Admiral," Dr. Graystone said slowly, turning to face Jason. "Almost everything on the surface has suffered a lot of retardation over the years. Books, data disks, computers, all have suffered from the ravages of time. It's amazing the cities are as intact as they are."

"But what about everything that is being brought up from the surface, evidently some worth while artifacts have been found?" Jason asked, he had seen some photos of artifacts the day before.

"We are finding some interesting artifacts here and there," Dr. Graystone confirmed nodding her head. "In the Capitol City the World History Museum was largely intact. What was really exciting was when we discovered that there were three stories underground, which had withstood the centuries of neglect relatively well."

"Yes I recall that report," Jason replied, he had found it extremely interesting to see all the detailed photos of the artifacts that had been brought up from that museum.

"That is also where we learned of the Kobolan's originations," Dr. Graystone commented.

"They left Kobal 20 years before the Exodus," Jason spoke recalling the detailed report that Dr. Graystone had written. "It must have taken a truly extraordinary effort to leave Kobal with all the fighting and small wars that were going on. So what are the scientists on the ships going to do with all these artifacts?" Jason asked. There had been very little information coming from the research scientists the last few days, other then requests to send more search teams down to the surface.

"Right now we are just cataloguing everything," Dr. Graystone replied, leading the Admiral down another lighted corridor with a very thick protective metal door at the end. "We are hoping to find most of our answers in the library and vault down below."

For the next four hours, Jason allowed Dr. Graystone to show him around the rest of the large complex. Since its discovery, it had become the center of the research on the planet, since it seemed like it would hold the best chance of discovering what had happened in the war. Dozens of scientists and their marine guards were everywhere. Work crews were stringing up new lights, as new corridors were opened up and explored.

They found Dr. Carthews down in the vault supervising the down loading of the files and packing up the numerous books in the small library across the hall from it. He had over a dozen people scurrying back and forth, as he instructed them on just what to pack and how to catalogue it.

"Admiral I am so glad you could come down," he said rushing over and shaking Jason's hand. "You won't believe what all we have discovered!"

"Anything about how this war ended?" Jason asked looking around at all the activity taking place in the library and vault room. "I wish we knew what happened to the Ovions."

"But I do know," Dr. Carthews replied with a pleased and smug look on his face. "I found the logs from the complexes Commandant preserved in the vault room."

"You did!" Jason uttered surprised and starting to feel a little aggravated. "Why wasn't I informed of this sooner?"

"Be patient Admiral," Dr. Carthews replied feeling self-satisfied that he knew something the Admiral didn't. "The commander of this base was a General Alton Pershing, this base survived for nearly a year after the final attack. Nearly two thousand people lived in this underground complex."

"Two thousand!" Jason replied surprised at the large number. "And you say they survived for a full year after the final attack, where did they go? We haven't found any bodies anywhere."

Dr. Carthews shook his head with a look of confusion spreading across his face. "We don't know Admiral, and all the final log entry says is that they were being evacuated to a safe place, nothing more."

"What about the Ovions?" Jason asked almost afraid of the answer. "What happened to them?"

"They are still out there Admiral," Dr. Carthews replied with a look of concern.

"I was afraid you would say that," Jason replied wishing he was back on the Titania. They had detected several sensor ghosts on the Dradis several days back but nothing since. He had hoped it was only a sensor malfunction, now he wasn't so sure.

"The Ovions maintain a huge defensive fleet around their home planet. Toward the end of the war, the Kobolans launched a major attack against the Ovions. It failed miserably with almost ninety per cent of the Kobolan fleet being wiped out. From the reports of the few surviving ships, the Kobolan fleet did manage to hit the Ovion home world with a number of nukes but not enough to hamper the Ovion's war effort."

Dr. Carthews paused as he stopped several technicians and directed them back into the vault to pack a set of data files he had set aside. Jason waited impatiently as the Dr. gave out more instructions to several others.

"With the loss of most of their fleet the Kobolans could do little to stop the Ovions from destroying and overrunning their planets," Dr. Carthews continued. "After a planet was nuked the Ovions would land troops to capture or finish off any survivors. Those that fought were killed without mercy, the rest were captured and taken back to the Ovion's planet."

"The fighting on the surface must have been horrendous if the people knew the fate that awaited them on the Ovion world," Jason replied remembering the photos that Colonel Stark had shown him of massive ruins from ground battles in some areas of the planet. He could picture the people being used for slavery, probably working the Ovion's Tylium mines.

"Yes," Dr. Carthews replied fidgeting and glancing at Dr. Graystone. "From the logs we know that the Ovions captured hundreds of thousands of Kobolans from the war ravaged planets and transported them to Ovion."

It was at that moment that a marine Lt. burst into the library where they were standing. Jason turned irritably to see what could cause the Lt. to behave so unprofessionally.

"Lt. Marlin reporting sir," the marine said saluting and nearly out of breath. "I was sent to find you; the Titania has sent an urgent message."

"What kind of message?" Jason demanded showing surprise and concern. Something would have to happen on his only trip down to the surface. He hoped it wasn't more sensor ghosts.

"A strange ship jumped into the system forty minutes ago," the Lt. reported breathlessly. "They scanned the fleet and then jumped back out."

"Did they say if it was a human ship," Jason asked getting concerned. He didn't like the sound of this at all, especially after what Dr. Carthews had just told him. Jason was afraid they might have stayed in this system to long.

"They said it was an Ovion ship sir!" the Lt. reported with worry and fright on his face. He had seen on the surface what the Ovions had done to this world.

"Frak!" Jason replied, then turning to Dr. Carthews. "I want everyone off the surface and back to their ships ASAP," he ordered. "We had hoped the Ovions had been destroyed in the war along with the Kobolans. There was no sign of recent activity from them in any of the destroyed systems, but from what you just informed me, we were wrong, very wrong."

"Admiral there is something else you should know about the Ovions," Dr. Graystone broke in worriedly.

"What is it?" Jason asked wanting to hurry back to the surface so he could get back to the Titania.

"Some of the reports we have managed to recover seem to suggest that the Ovions discovered that humans were an excellent food source for them," she explained with horrified distaste on her face. "From the reports we have found, toward the end of the war they were raiding the human planets and kidnapping hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions to be used for food. They were bringing in huge transports to move captured humans back to their world."

"By the Lords of Kobol," Jason uttered aghast at the revelation. "We need to get out of here Dr., once everyone is aboard the ships we are leaving!"

A little over an hour later Jason entered the CIC of the Gunstar Titania, the control room bustled with activity. Orders were being sent to various ships, raptors, and shuttles, as the evacuation from the planet was being coordinated and now well underway.

"Sitrep Major Dyson," Jason demanded as he made his was to the operations table,he looked up at the Dradis screen which only showed the fleet ships and no new threats. He felt relieved that no other Ovion ships had been spotted.

"A single Ovion ship jumped into the system 92 minutes ago sir," Major Dyson replied. "She moved in close, just out of weapons range and scanned the fleet and the surface of the planet. She moved damn fast sir. The ship was the size of a small scout, around 120 meters and looked to be very heavily armed. The nearest vipers reported seeing numerous weapons turrets and what looked like missile tubes. Before our vipers could close to attack range, she jumped back out. There have been no further contacts on Dradis."

"How many people do we still have down on the surface?" Jason asked as he looked closely at the Dradis and studied the fleets current disposition and formation. Shuttles and raptors were everywhere, going down to the planet and returning.

"Almost twelve hundred counting the marines," Major Dyson replied as she stepped over to the end of the operations table and punched up the latest numbers on the computer terminal there.

"It's going to take us hours to get everyone safely back to their ships," Jason spoke worriedly. "That scout ship could return at anytime with a fleet!"

"Some of the teams are deep inside the ruined cities involved in excavation work. I have directed raptors to land as close to their positions as possible and pull them out," Major Dyson responded. "I have also placed a full squadron of vipers out on CAP from the Gunstar Nebula. Our own pilots are in the ready room and ready to launch at a moments notice."

Jason thought for a moment, how would the Ovions respond to finding humans back over one of the human worlds they had destroyed so long ago? He felt sure they would respond and respond quickly. The only question was just how quick and how large that response would be. He needed to position his warships to hold off an Ovion attack while the evacuation from the surface was completed.

"Lt. Johnson, contact the Gunstar Lodestar, she is to jump immediately to the emergency jump coordinates," Jason ordered wanting to get part of the fleet to safety. "Commander Garrison is to jump with the two fleet Supply ships, the two Tylium tankers, the Mining ship, the Agro ship, and the two Colony ships."

"Yes sir," Lt. Johnson replied as she keyed her com to pass on the instructions to the designated Gunstar.

"Inform Commander Garrison to load the next set of emergency coordinates into their jump computers as soon as they arrive in the new system," Jason added. "If he detects any signs of hostiles he is to jump to the secondary coordinates."

They had already sent out a couple of exploration raptors to the system and Jason felt confident that the system he was sending the ships to was secure. It was nearly eighteen light years away and consisted of only three planets, two moons, and no asteroids. Nothing should be able to surprise the fleet in that system, it was too open. However, he wanted the fleet prepared to jump to the next set of emergency coordinates if necessary.

Major Dyson moved over to stand close to the Lt. to make sure all of the Admirals instructions were passed along. She knew that in all the excitement it would be easy to forget something. Major Dyson looked over the crew of the CIC, they were so young, and she just hoped they were ready for what they might soon be facing.

Jason knew that some personnel from the designated ships that were leaving were still down on the surface, but they could be sent to other ships for now. By sending these ships on, it reduced the number he had to protect. The two Exploration ships, the fleet Tender/Repair ship, the Marine Assault ship, the three support Gunstars, and the Titania would remain.

A few minutes later the designated ships had spun up their FTL drives and began jumping out. Jason watched feeling relief as the last ship disappeared from the Dradis screen.

Keying his com unit to allow him to speak to the Commanders and Captains of all the remaining ships he began. "As everyone knows an Ovion scout ship found us almost two hours ago. While we cannot be certain, there is a very good possibility that an attacking fleet could appear at any moment. We estimate that it might take an additional two to four hours to complete all the evacuations from the surface. We will not leave anybody behind! Gunstars Searcher and Defiant will take up standard V attack formation with the Titania. The Nebula and the Marine Assault ship Guardian will cover the Exploration ships and the Fleet Tender until the evacuation is complete. I have complete confidence in each and everyone of you."

Jason placed a small com piece into one ear adjusted the small mike attached so he could remain in contact with the two Gunstars that were now approaching the Titania. The Titania was moving even higher up and above the fleet into a position that could be used to protect the ships below or to attack an inbound hostile fleet if necessary.

The Nebula had recalled her vipers to give the pilots a few hours rest in case they were needed. The entire squadron had been flying CAP since the Ovion scout ship had jumped into the system. Jason had the Gunstars Searcher and Defiant both launch four vipers each to patrol above the fleet. Now it was just a waiting game.

Two hours passed and the evacuation was proceeding smoothly. Everyone was up off the surface except for two groups in one of the major destroyed cities and some of Dr. Carthew's people at the old defense installation. Jason was beginning to feel like they just might make it when the Dradis sounded an alarming warning tone.

"We have six Dradis contacts that have jumped into the system," Lt. Everson reported. He was glad that six raptors were still out extending the Titania's detection range or he would not have been able to detect the inbound ships.

"I want the makeup of those contacts ASAP," Jason ordered calmly, then speaking into his mike. "All ships go to condition one."

"Raptor 3 has a visual on the in bound ships sir," Major Dyson reported listening to the fleet communication in the earpiece she was wearing. She immediately began pressing buttons on the computer consul at the end of the operations table.

On the main view screen a large dumb bell shaped ship appeared. It was similar to the ones they had already found destroyed in orbit but this one was much larger and looked to be much heavier armed. The ship literally bristled with gun turrets and missile tubes. Jason didn't like the looks of it at all.

"That ships measures nearly eleven hundred meters sir," Major Dyson informed him studying the data streaming across her screen. "It's most likely their Flagship."

"Two ships confirmed as scout size," Lt. Everson reported as the information on his Dradis screens firmed up. Three ships at six hundred meters and the main heavy, as Major Dyson has stated, is eleven hundred meters. They have assumed a standard screening formation and are in bound toward our position. Estimated time to weapons range is fourteen minutes sir."

"Raptors reports all six ships seem to be heavily armed," Major Dyson went on as she spoke to the raptor pilots over her com system. Weapons systems seem to be similar to ours, just a lot more of them in a smaller space."

"What's the status on the evacuation?" Jason demanded as he looked at the Dradis screen and then back down at the operations table, where the position of all the ships including fleet ships were now showing.

"Two shuttles have just left the surface from the ruined city," Lt. Johnson reported as she directed the two shuttles to land on the Exploration ship Star Search. "We still have one shuttle at the underground mountain installation, they should be launching shortly."

"Once those two shuttles have landed order the Star Search to jump to the emergency coordinates," Jason commanded as he studied the operations table. "Navigation move us out at ten percent sub light thrust toward the incoming ships," Jason ordered wanting to meet the Ovion ships away from the planet. "All vipers prepare to launch on my command. Tactical standby all weapons and lock on targets."

"Yes sir," Captain Edison replied as he started giving commands to the two Lts. and four Ensigns under his command. They controlled all the ships weapons from their consuls.

The three ships steadily moved toward the incoming Ovion ships with the Titania slightly in the lead flanked on each side by her two supporting Gunstars. The distance rapidly closed. Jason could feel the tension in the CIC as everyone waited to see what the Ovion response would be. This war had ended five hundred years ago and he didn't want to fire the first shot in a new one.

"Lt. Johnson, contact the Ovion ships," Jason ordered finally. "Inform them we are on a peaceful exploratory mission and wish them no harm."

A moment later Lt. Johnson turned back toward the Admiral, "Message sent sir but I am receiving no reply on any com channels."

"Incoming fire!" Captain Edison yelled from his station where he had been monitoring the Ovion ships waiting for his weapons to lock on.

"Inbound missiles," Lt. Everson reported as his Dradis screen lit up with inbound targets and warning tones.

"Launch vipers," Jason barked his face turning dark. "All ships engage targets! Captain Edison, fire all batteries as soon as you have firing solutions!"

"Sir the Ovions are trying to hack our computer network," Lt. Grimm spoke worriedly as her hands flew rapidly over her consul. "Primary firewall has been breached; the secondary is still holding sir."

"Do we need to disengage our networks," Jason demanded worried that the Ovions might manage to penetrate their computer systems. This was something the Cylons used to be very good at. Once they had control of the networks, they could shut a ship down or even vent the atmosphere killing the crew.

"No sir," Lt. Grimm replied, speaking quickly to her two system technicians whose fingers were flying across their keyboards. "We still have the tertiary set of firewalls to fall back upon. If the Ovions reach those, the network will be disengaged automatically. We are monitoring the situation closely and are trying to get the primary firewall rebooted."

"Missiles closing sir," Lt. Emerson reported from his Dradis consul. "Twenty seconds to impact."

"All ships activate Flak screens," Jason ordered. "Main batteries fire on targets when weapons lock is confirmed."

A moment later several green lights glowed on Captain Edison's consul, instantly the main batteries on all three Gunstars fired hurling massive KEW rounds toward the Ovion ships. The secondary KEW turrets also began firing sending their smaller rounds and occasional tracers toward the incoming spacecraft. The defensive turrets activated surrounding the ships with a wall of exploding chafe and shrapnel

A minute earlier Captain Steele had felt himself pushed back into his viper's acceleration seat as he was catapulted out of the Titania's launch tube. Around him, he could see the other vipers of his squadron exiting their tubes as well.

"Alright everyone, form up with your wing man," he spoke calmly scanning his short-range Dradis screen to check on his squadron. "Do this just like the drills, stay with your wingman and watch your six. Try to stay out of the Gunstar's targeting solutions. Staggered formation Delta, don't give them any easy targets, let's go Blue squadron." Aaron saw that Green squadron had also launched and was forming up a kilometer away from Blue squadron.

Over the com link, he heard Major Dyson break in. "Hotshot main target is now launching what looks like fighters. You are to intercept and take them out."

"Copy Titania," Aaron replied as the Ovion fighters began appearing on his Dradis. He counted eighteen inbound targets. "Ok everyone the main bogey has launched fighters, we have a job to do, let's take them out. Green squadron you are flying support, if any enemy fighters get through us take them out before they can reach the Titania."

On the main view screen, Jason watched as their first rounds slammed into their chosen target. The large Ovion ship seemed to stagger slightly as the massive rounds struck her. Then the Titania seemed to vibrate as she was struck by return fire. Several missiles had penetrated through her heavy Flak screen.

"Slight damage to frames three and eight, the armor is holding," Major Dyson reported receiving the damage report from damage control.

"Sir," Lt. Grimm interrupted with a worried look on her face. "My computers are showing that only six percent of our KEW rounds are impacting on the target ship. Only a few of the heavy shells are reaching the target, all the lighter rounds are exploding before contacting the ships hull."

"How is that possible?" Jason asked looking more closely at the main view screen on the front wall of the CIC. Sure enough if you looked closely you could seen numerous explosions a short distance from the Ovion ship's hull.

"Sir I think they have some type of force field around their ships," Lt. Grimm said disbelievingly as she studied the data her computers were bringing in from the ships sensors. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Oh it's possible," Jason replied worriedly remembering some of his earlier studies at Picon Academy. "It takes a tremendous amount of energy to generate a field, so much energy that the Colonies abandoned force field research years ago." Jason grabbed the operations table as the Titania shook from another missile strike. On the damage control consul, several stations away, he could see red and amber lights starting to show up indicating ship damage.

"Damage control teams report to corridor C-18 frames eight and twelve," the damage control officer ordered as he sealed off those areas until the damage control teams could get there.

"Their Tylium," Major Dyson gasped realizing what those massive Tylium deposits on the Ovion's home world and orbiting moon could mean. "With all that Tylium at their disposal, the massive amounts of energy needed to generate a force field would not be that big of a concern."

"It must not be a real powerful force field," Jason commented as he watched the main view screen closely, which was now zoomed in on the large Ovion ship. He watched as several of the large KEW rounds penetrated the Ovion's shield striking the armor of the large ship. However, all of the smaller rounds were still exploding a short distance from the targets hull.

"Sir, Defiant has been hit hard by multiple missiles and KEW rounds, she has lost FTL capability. Commander Anton reports they are leaking atmosphere but all weapon systems are still on line," Major Dyson reported worriedly. "They suffered multiple hits on the topside armor severing the FTL controls."

In space, Captain Steele lined his viper up on an opposing fighter. The Ovion fighters were stubbier and a little wider then a modern Colonial viper. Pulling the trigger, he watched as his twin cannons raked the Ovion fighter causing the ship to explode into a thousand pieces.

Beside him, Lt. Ashton fired into the engine of the fighter she was chasing. With satisfaction, she saw the fighter vanish in a brilliant explosion. It was her first kill as a Colonial pilot.

"Good shot Lt.," Aaron said trying to keep on top of the melee around him. Ovion fighters and Colonial vipers were swirling around trying to get a kill position on each other. "Stay with me Lt.," Aaron ordered not wanting the young Lt. to get too far away.

Looking at his Dradis screen, he could see that his other pilots were having equal success against their targets. It didn't seem like these Ovion pilots were very good. Their ships had better acceleration then the Colonials but they were making cadet type mistakes. They also were not flying in pairs, a definite tactical disadvantage since the Colonials were.

"All ships switch to target 2 and concentrate fire on the spindle of the Ovion ship," Jason ordered as the view screen switched to one of the six hundred meter ships. The main ships force field was preventing them from doing significant damage, while the Colonial ships were slowly being battered by the Ovion's heavy fire. "Navigation, bring the bow up eight degrees and pitch us over twelve degrees starboard, tactical fire all bow batteries and bow missile tubes when target is locked!"

The Titania brought her bow up slightly and turned toward the indicated target. The heavy bow KEWs opened fire. Four Devastator 2 heavy missiles also erupted from the bow missile tubes. The Devastator 2 missiles contained a Solium based warhead, which was the most powerful explosive substance known to the Colonies that was non-nuclear.

On the view screen, explosions began to run across the spindle of the Ovion ship as the heavy KEW rounds slammed through their force field. Then the missiles struck and for a moment, the Ovion ship vanished under four brilliant flashes of light. Then it reappeared showing massive damage and huge gaping wounds in the side of the spindle, fires could be seen burning through jagged rents in the hull. Then other KEW rounds and missiles from the other two Gunstars began to arrive. Every round began to strike the Ovion ship.

"Sir I think we have knocked their force field down," Lt. Grimm reported excitedly. "Nearly 88 percent of our munitions are striking the target."

On the screen, a large explosion suddenly engulfed the Ovion ship as another Devastator 2 missile struck. Fire could be seen erupting out of numerous rents and gaping wounds. Moments later the engine section exploded causing the view screens to go momentarily blank from the powerful wave of interference.

"Target destroyed," Captain Edison reported with satisfaction in his voice.

"Sir we have multiple nukes inbound," the Dradis officer warned as a higher pitched alarm tone went off on his consul. "Ovion ships have fired a spread of nuclear missiles!"

"All ships concentrate Flak screens on inbound nukes!" Jason ordered as he watched the Dradis screen intently which showed over forty nuclear missiles inbound plus numerous other non-nuclear. "I want all those nukes knocked down!"

It seemed the remaining Ovion ships had launched everything they had at the Colonials hoping to eliminate the Gunstars in one massive strike. One massive strike to overwhelm the Colonial ships defenses. Jason ordered all ships to a turn of 180 degrees to bring more Flak batteries to bear.

All three Colonial Gunstars became surrounded in exploding Flak as the defensive turrets on the ships opened up a continuous barrage of rapid fire. Missiles began to explode in the Flak field as they were torn apart. However, three missiles slipped through the Defiant's Flak screen, two were high explosive but the third was nuclear. A brilliant explosion lit up space as the nuclear missile slammed into the port side of the Gunstar.

"Frak, what was that?" a startled Lt. Aston asked as she looked back at where the Defiant was, frantically trying to see the Gunstar.

"It's the Defiant, she has been hit by a nuke," Aaron groaned worriedly as he struggled to get a better view of the stricken ship.

"Can you see her?" Lt. Ashton asked worriedly.

"No, nothing yet," Captain Steele replied as he turned his viper to get a better view of the Defiant.

"Use of nuclear ordinance is authorized," Jason spoke grim faced, they had lost all communication with the Defiant, and he knew that if she wasn't destroyed she had to be heavily damaged. "I want those ships out of my space!"

Four Hades nuclear missiles launched from both the Titania and the Searcher. Each missile locked on to a different target. The Hades missile contained an advanced ECM package, which made them hard to shoot down and they were exceptionally fast. They were also a missile not yet released to the overall Colonial fleet. They had been developed at the secret fleet base.

On the main view screen, everyone watched as the missiles struck the Ovion ships, tearing at them and shredding the weak force fields that protected them. The two small scout ships were completely vaporized in massive nuclear blasts. The remaining Ovion ships were heavily damaged and fires could be seen raging inside the ships through jagged rents in their hulls. The larger ship seemed to be the least damaged and turned to flee from the Colonial ships. Scorch marks, small rents, and massive indentations pockmarked her hull. The other two surviving Ovion ships turned to follow trailing debris behind them.

"They're retreating sir and their remaining fighters are breaking off contact and withdrawing," Major Dyson reported with relief. "Should I order our vipers to pursue?"

"No bring them home," Jason replied relieved that the Ovions were withdrawing, then he turned to look at the stricken Defiant now on the main screen.

A huge hole had been blown thorough her port side armor, fires could be seen raging in a number of breaches in the hull. She seemed powerless and dead in space. "We have lost enough people for today," Jason spoke knowing that there had to be severe casualties on the Defiant. "Navigation, bring us along side the Defiant. Major Dyson, prepare boarding and rescue parties, notify sick bay to expect massive numbers of wounded."

"Report from the Defiant sir," Lt. Johnson spoke with a shocked look upon her face. "It's the Exec. Major Wilkerson, Commander Anton was killed and he is reporting that nearly thirty percent of the ships compartments are open to space. They have their secondary Tylium energizer back on line but their drive systems are heavily damaged. He estimates they have lost about four hundred of the ship's crew. He needs the Crescent to take the Defiant on board; they have no way to get their drive systems back on line."

"Holy Kobol," Major Dyson uttered stunned. The rest of the CIC was very quiet.

"Order the Fleet Tender Crescent to rendezvous with the Defiant and take her aboard," Jason ordered feeling sick at his stomach at the number of lives lost. He knew that there would be a lot of wounded, and some of them would be suffering from radiation burns and poisoning.

He wished they had included a hospital ship in the fleet. Of course there were plenty of doctors and nurses on the two Colony ships as well as the two Exploration ships. They would just have to make due. "Once the fires are under control and the wounded have been evacuated from the Defiant they are to jump to the emergency coordinates."

"Yes sir," Major Dyson replied grim faced.

"Sir the Ovion ships have jumped, Dradis is clear," Lt. Everson reported.

"Sir the Explorer is reporting that Dr. Carthews and the last of the surface teams are on board," Lt. Johnson reported.

"Very well," Jason keyed his com unit to speak to the entire fleet. "All ships are to jump immediately to the emergency coordinates. The Titania will stay behind with the Fleet Tender until the Defiant is secure."

The other ships acknowledged his orders and in a few minutes only the Titania, the Crescent, and the heavily damaged Defiant remained. It took nearly an hour until the Defiant was stabilized to the point where the Captain of the Crescent felt it was safe to jump.

The sick bays of both the Crescent and Titania were crammed full of critical patients, Jason knew they needed to rejoin the rest of the fleet so they could be transferred to the Colony and Exploration ships to receive proper medical care.

Jason watched as the Fleet Tender and its charge vanished leaving them alone in the New Kobol system. One last look at New Kobol and Jason gave the order for the Titania to jump, moments later the ship vanished in a flash of light as its FTL was activated.

**Fleet Tender Repair Ship (Crescent)**

Length 1,500 meters

Width 500 meters

Depth 400 meters

24 point defense turrets

Crew 600

Repair crew 800

Marines 150

**Colony Ships (Sierra, Cloud One)**

Length 1500 meters

Width 400 meters

Depth 350 meters

24 point defense turrets

1 Medium KEW twin turret on the bow

2 Missile tubes on the bow

20 heavy transport shuttles

Crew of 800

Marines 150

Colonists 1,500


	4. Chapter 4

**Aftermath**

The Titania reentered normal space with the queasiness that Jason normally associated with FTL jumps. Holding on to the operations table, he blinked his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn't think he would ever get used to FTL jumps no matter how many times he experienced them. "Status report," he demanded looking up at the Dradis screen, which was beginning to show the rest of the fleet.

Major Dyson was on the com channel checking with the other ships, particularly the Gunstars evaluating the damage done to each one in the battle with the Ovions. Lt. Grimm was busy running scans on the system they were now in making sure there were no surprises waiting for them. Lt. Everson was watching the Dradis closely hoping they were not followed. Lt. Johnson was busy with communications trying to answer all the questions from the Colony and Exploration ships.

After a moment, Major Dyson turned to the expectant Admiral. "The Defiant is currently stable sir, all fires are out and the ship is being searched for additional survivors. The wounded are currently being loaded into shuttles in preparation to being sent to the two Colony ships, including those we brought aboard the Titania. The two Colony ships have the largest contingent of Drs and the best medical facilities."

"How many are we talking about?" Jason asked almost afraid of the answer. He knew the Defiant had been hit hard by the nuke. If not for the new armor, she would probably have been destroyed.

Major Dyson hesitated, the news was not good. "We have four hundred and twenty confirmed dead, another eighty two missing, and three hundred and twelve injured. The injuries range from slight to very severe. When the nuke hit it caused a series of secondary explosions throughout the Gunstar."

"Frak," Jason muttered to himself at the report. He knew that there had been a little over twelve hundred crewmembers and marines on the Defiant. That meant that nearly seventy-five percent of the crew were dead, missing, or incapacitated. Never in all his years as a Commander or an officer had he lost so many people.

Captain Steele entering the CIC interrupted Jason's thoughts. "Captain, do you have a count of our viper and raptor losses?"

"Our squadrons did surprisingly well sir," Captain Steele reported still feeling the slight rush from combat. "All squadrons combined report a loss of six vipers and one raptor. However we did lose three pilots and the raptor crew."

"We had twelve confirmed kills by our squadrons," Major Dyson added.

Jason thought for a few minutes about what they should do next. Turning to Major Dyson he said, "We will remain in this system for two hours while all ships make necessary repairs. Inform the Crescent to make sure the Defiant is safe to jump with. It the Gunstar is unsafe we will have to abandon her; we can't afford to risk the Crescent! I want to put some distance between us and the New Kobol system, a lot of distance."

"Yes sir," Major Dyson replied as she activated her com unit to pass on the necessary orders.

"Lt. Everson, keep a close watch on Dradis," Jason ordered. "If you even think that you have spotted something let me know immediately, even if it's only a sensor ghost."

"Crescent reports that they have the Defiant stabilized sufficiently for jumps," Major Dyson reported, continuing to speak to different ships on her com unit. "They are initiating additional safety measures to insure that there are no mishaps."

"Major Steele I want a full squadron of vipers out on CAP for the full two hours we are here, also six raptors for extended Dradis," Jason ordered, he had no intention of fighting the Ovions again. If they appeared, he intended to jump and put some distance between the Ovions and the fleet.

"Yes sir," Aaron replied walking over to a communication consul so he could contact the ships air wings.

"Lt. Johnson we have a number of people on the wrong ships, find out who they are and where they are and have them sent to the proper ships," Jason continued. Jason was beginning to feel exhausted. He knew it was from the pressure of the battle and the people he had lost. He knew he needed some serious rack time.

Jason stared at the Dradis thinking furiously, trying not to make any mistakes. He knew that the surviving Ovion ships would arrive back at Carillon shortly. After evaluating the battle, there was no doubt in Jason's mind they would return with a larger fleet, one large enough to crush the Colonial ships. Jason figured they had a minimum of four hours before the Ovions returned to New Kobol, and upon not finding the Colonials began sending out scout ships to all the neighboring systems. They had jumped far enough away that it would take several hours of searching before the Ovions came to this system. That should give them six hours of safety or more. Jason intended to be long gone by then.

An hour later Captain Steele was out in his viper with Lt. Ashton checking on the CAP and looking at the damage to the Gunstars. The Searcher had some minor damage to her armor and several turrets, one of the turrets had been completely blown off. There was also a small jagged rent in her starboard armor where a standard warhead missile had penetrated. Fortunately, the damage had been to a storage compartment and no one had been injured or killed. There were numerous other burn marks and scarring scattered across the Gunstar. The Titania had also suffered from several missile hits and KEW rounds that had impacted. Her armor was cracked open in several locations as well as several defensive turrets that were damaged.

"They really hit us didn't they," Emily spoke quietly looking disheartenly at the damage to the ships.

"We were lucky," Aaron replied as he banked his viper around the Crescent where he knew that work was frantically being done on the Defiant. He just hoped they could repair the valiant Gunstar, but after the damage she had suffered, he wasn't sure. "If the Ovions had jumped in with a larger fleet I don't know if any of us would have made it out. The Admiral did a great job getting us away from there and getting everyone off the surface of New Kobol."

"He really knows his stuff," Emily commented impressed with the Admiral. He reminded him a lot of her dad from his days back in the Colonial marines. With her father being a Captain, she had lived in a very disciplined environment.

"That's why he was put in charge of the fleet," Aaron replied as they passed over the Titania's engine section.

An hour later, Jason was satisfied that all ships were ready for their next jump. Only this time it would not be just one jump, they were going to make a series of jumps to put a safe distance between them and the Ovions. The Crescent had reported that the Defiant had been locked down and all power had been shut down on the ship. Damage Control teams were on the Gunstar in case of any unforeseen flare-ups. He knew that Dr. Carthews would not be happy about missing all the exploration opportunities they were about to pass up, but for the safety of the fleet it was necessary.

Four days later and after twelve long FTL jumps, the Titania and the exploration fleet jumped into a new star system. "Report," Jason ordered as the Dradis screens and view screens began to come on line.

"All ships accounted for," Lt. Everson reported as he checked the ship IDs and their locations on the Dradis. "All ships within the defined parameters."

"Gunstars Nebula, Searcher, and Loadstar are taking up screening positions," Major Dyson reported. "CAP and Dradis raptors are launching."

"Scanning system," Lt. Grimm reported as she used the ship's sensors and astrometrics system to search for possible planets, moons, asteroid fields, and nebula.

"No radio or subspace communication being picked up sir," Lt. Johnson reported as she scanned all normal communication frequencies.

A few minutes later the Dradis screen expanded as the outgoing raptors reached their assigned position and their Dradis information was fed back to the Titania. No new contacts were detected on the expanded screen. Jason began to relax knowing that at least for the moment the fleet was safe.

"Stand down from condition two," he commanded allowing himself to relax. They had put nearly two hundred and forty light years between them and the Ovions, there was no chance they could find them now. He had pushed the crews of all the ships the last four days making three long jumps each day. The civilians and scientists had grumbled since they were not used to multiple jumps, plus the FTL drives had to be recalibrated at least once each day to insure maximum jump potential and accuracy.

"Sir basic scans are complete," Lt. Grimm reported as she read the information coming across her screens. "Six planets in the system, none in the liquid water zone, however there is an extremely large asteroid field between planets four and five. Planets four and five are both gas giants."

"Major Dyson, contact the Exploration ships and have them send their exploration raptors to the asteroid field, we need to find some Tylium to replenish our reserves plus some heavy metals to repair the Defiant with," Jason ordered wanting the fleet to be as prepared as possible for any encounter with unknowns again.

"Dr. Carthews will not be happy about not exploring the planets first," Major Dyson commented as she contacted the two Exploration ships. "He's already pretty peeved about all the potential exploration opportunities we passed up the last several days."

"He will just have to be content with going over his New Kobal data," Jason replied not concerned, his first priority was the safety of this fleet. "They have plenty to do with all the books and information disks they recovered from the underground base."

"They also have all those artifacts they brought on board from the museum in the Capitol," Major Dyson replied remembering her conversation with Dr. Graystone about the museum. She had been surprised at how friendly Dr. Graystone could be once you got past her defenses.

"Precisely," Jason replied nodding. "They have plenty to do and they will have enough opportunities for exploration later."

An hour later Jason stepped through the hatchway that led into the Port flight pod, he wanted to check personally on the progress the crew was making in assembling the spare vipers. He could see techs and knuckle draggers busy assembling the vipers, which were in various stages of assembly. The vipers had been brought over from the supply ships. Fortunately, they had ten spare vipers and two raptors stored in large crates aboard the two ships.

The maintenance Chief Captain Will Desmond spotted the Admiral and hurried over. "Admiral the vipers are being assembled as you ordered, we should have them ready for testing in two more days."

"Very good Chief," Jason replied looking over the bay. Several vipers sat ready before their launch tubes and he could see a raptor being prepped to accompany one of the exploration raptors out to the asteroid field. He also noticed Lt. Ashton over by her viper carefully inspecting the craft. "We won't be going anywhere for a while so hopefully there will be no interruptions."

"The crew will do a good job sir," Chief Desmond replied. "Those vipers will be ready for their pilots."

Lt. Ashton was carefully checking her viper for any signs of potential problems. She knew that the maintenance crew had already completed their inspection but she had noticed that Captain Steele always inspected his viper once the maintenance crew was finished. If he thought it was important then it must be, so she had begun inspecting her viper also. Emily became aware of a presence behind her and turning around almost banged her head against the stubby wing of the viper when she recognized the Admiral. Frak what have I done now she wondered, coming to a quick salute.

"At ease Lt.'" Jason ordered glancing at the viper and feeling pleased the way he had seen the young Lt. inspecting her craft. He could remember doing the same thing back when he was flying vipers. "You have been doing an admirable job as Captain Steel's wingman."

"Thank you sir," Emily managed to reply trying not to let her voice quiver. "He has spent a lot of time training me and the others sir."

"It shows Lt., keep up the good work and keep the Captain safe," Jason said in a more relaxed tone. "Hopefully things will be a little calmer for awhile."

"He's a good officer sir," Emily replied looking at the Admiral.

"Yes he is, this entire crew is turning out to be something special," Jason replied feeling very pleased with the way the crew had developed.

Several hours later Jason was in a raptor shuttling over to the Crescent. He wanted to see first hand the damage done to the Defiant. A decision had to be made on whether to salvage her or not. Both the Titania and the Searcher needed to spend a few days inside the Crescent's large repair bay to correct the damage done by the Ovions.

Colonel Andrea Stillson and Major Wilkerson met Jason in the repair bay. Colonel Stillson was the chief engineer of the Crescent and responsible for all repair jobs. Both saluted coming to attention as Jason walked over to them.

"As you were," Jason ordered returning the salutes. "How is your ship Major?"

Major Wilkerson glanced at Colonel Stillson before replying. "Not very good sir, the Colonel and I have walked through the ship with a team of techs making a list of what all needs to be repaired. She can be repaired but its going to take awhile."

"How long?" Jason asked looking inquiringly at Colonel Stillson.

Colonel Stillson hesitated a moment before answering, she knew that the Admiral might not like what he was about to hear. "The Defiant was hit very badly by the nuke. The exterior armor was blown apart and the blast penetrated twelve decks into the interior of the ship. A series of secondary explosions caused by the EMP, blast wave, and heat generated by the nuke fried most of the ships electronics which also set off a lot of fires."

"Frak," Jason uttered knowing this was going to be bad."

"The primary energizer blew spewing more radiation into the ship and the failsafe initiated an automatic shutdown of the reactor," the Colonel continued. One of the reserve ammo bunkers in the Starboard flight pod exploded causing severe damage. The entire interior of the bay will have to be rebuilt."

"We can do it sir," Major Wilkerson spoke his eyes fearful of the Admiral's possible response. He knew that there was a good chance the Admiral would order the Defiant to be removed from the repair bay and scuttled. It would take a lot of resources, time, and effort to repair the Defiant.

"How long," Jason asked once again. He knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"Six months," Colonel Stillson replied bracing herself for the Admiral's response.

"Six months," Jason breathed thinking about the pros and cons of repairing the Defiant. "Unfortunately we don't have a spare Gunstar packed in boxes on the supply ships. Would it be feasible to move the Defiant out of the repair bay for a few days while repairs are done to the Searcher and the Titania?"

"Yes sir," Colonel Stillson replied. "The auxiliary CIC is intact on the Defiant as well as the secondary energizer. We can establish life support and keep a small damage control team on the ship while we do the repairs on the Searcher and Titania."

"Is it necessary to keep a crew on the Defiant," Jason asked not wanting to put anyone in unnecessary danger; he had already lost enough people.

"Yes sir," Major Wilkerson replied. "If there is any type of incident on the Defiant we will have the people to respond to it immediately. There are a number of decks, including some of the crew's quarters that are still intact. We can complete our evaluation of the Defiant while the other Gunstars are being repaired."

Jason paused for several long moments before making his decision. "Very well, we will repair the Defiant. As long as the repair bay is not needed for anything else, but I want the Defiant ready to be abandoned at a moments notice if we need the Crescent to save another ship."

"Thank you sir," Major Wilkerson replied with relief washing over his face. "The crew will be thankful sir."

"Speaking of the crew what is the current status of the survivors," Jason asked. He had already talked to several of the doctors on the Colony ships and he knew that a number of the crew would be permanently disabled from the injuries they had sustained.

Major Wilkerson was silent for a moment. He had lost a lot of close friends and associates on the Defiant. "The final casualty figures show that we lost five hundred and twenty eight of the crew. Another seventy-eight will probably not be able to return to duty. The rest should be fit by the time the Defiant is repaired sir."

"We have some extra crew members on some of the other ships," Jason replied, he knew they had lost some of the injured from severe burns and intense radiation poisoning. They had excellent anti radiation drugs but some of the crewmembers had just been to close to the blast. "We may have to make a few adjustments and even so the Defiant will probably not have a full crew."

"We will make do sir," Major Wilkerson replied, he just didn't want the ship scrapped.

"Very well Major, keep me informed," Jason ordered understanding the Majors desire to have his ship repaired. "Colonel I want to begin repairs on the Titania and Searcher as soon as possible. Let me know how soon you can begin."

The next day the Defiant was eased out of the Crescent's cavernous repair bay. Several small damage control teams remained on board the Defiant along with a few crewmembers, including Major Wilkerson to monitor the damaged Gunstar. Once the Defiant was at a safe distance, the Gunstar Searcher eased herself into the bay and in a matter of minutes was securely at rest. Colonel Stillson had estimated that it would take two days of hard work to repair the damage done to the Searcher by the Ovions. Once the Searcher was repaired then it would be the Titania's turn.

They also found several asteroids rich in heavy metals as well as several small deposits of Tylium ore. The Mining ship Haven moved into the asteroid field and began mining and refining the Tylium finds first. Jason wanted both Tylium tankers topped off before they left the system. Several armed raptors were kept in the vicinity of the Haven to insure its security.

Jason and Major Dyson entered the main conference room on the Exploration ship Explorer. Dr. Carthews had requested that they come aboard to be briefed on their findings from the underground facility. Dr. Carthews had seemed to be quite excited.

"How long are we going to stay in this system?" Dr. Carthews demanded as soon as everyone was seated. "If it is going to be much longer I want to launch exploration raptors to the neighboring systems. There are several interesting looking star systems close by. We should be exploring them to see what resources they contain."

Jason took a deep breath, it was as if Dr. Carthews had already put the Ovions behind them and wanted to continue as if nothing had happened. "Dr. Carthews we will be staying in this system until both the Titania and the Searcher have been completely repaired. I also intend on mining sufficient Tylium to top off the tanks in our two Tylium tankers as well as every ship in the fleet."

"But that will take days!" Dr. Carthews objected with a severe frown. "We are not that low on Tylium and our primary objective is exploration. We can't hide in this one system!"

"It will take us about a week to mine and process sufficient Tylium," Jason replied in a firm but commanding voice. "While it is true we have put quite a bit of distance between us and the Ovions we don't know what we might encounter next. I intend to stay in this system for two weeks. That will give us time to finish processing the Tylium as well as mine some heavy metals to use for repair on the Defiant. Once that is complete we will push on non stop to the Delphi quadrant."

"The Delphi quadrant!" Dr. Carthews exploded standing up as anger washed across his face. "We will be passing up dozens of important star systems and stellar phenomena that we had planned on exploring. I demand that you reconsider!"

"That's correct Dr." Jason replied looking calmly at Dr. Carthews. "However for the safety of the fleet I feel it is best that we push on to the Delphi quadrant, after all that is our primary objective."

"Well, yes," Dr. Carthews sputtered. "But we planned on exploring along the way, not skipping so many star systems as you propose."

"I have made my decision Dr.," Jason replied wanting to put an end to this. "We will push on to the Delphi quadrant and search for a suitable system to set up our Colony in. Once that has been completed you and your team can explore the local area to your hearts content."

"Very well Admiral," Dr. Carthews replied knowing that the Admiral had made his decision. He sat back down knowing he had probably over reacted.

"Now what is this important information you have found about the New Kobolans?" Jason asked changing the subject back to what they had originally come to the Explorer for."

"We have finally deciphered all the base commanders logs as well as read a number of their historical texts," Dr. Graystone began knowing that Dr. Carthews was still flustered from the Admiral's revelation about pushing on to the Delphi quadrant.

"So we know New Kobol's history?" Major Dyson asked intrigued and wanting to hear more.

"Yes," Dr. Graystone continued with a slight smile knowing that she had everyone's attention. "We know that they founded the New Kobal colony slightly over two thousand years ago. Their population steadily grew until they began to set up their own new colony worlds in other systems. They even sent several expeditions back to Kobol!"

"Kobol!" Jason interrupted surprised. "Do we know the coordinates for the Kobol system?"

"Unfortunately not," Dr. Graystone replied shaking her head ruefully. "None of the texts we have gone through so far even hint at the location of Kobol."

"We believe it is intentional," Dr. Carthews said joining in on the conversation having calmed back down. "We know that they sent at least two expeditions back to Kobol but it was centuries after the Exodus. Kobol was a dead world, just barely beginning to recover from years of war and pollution."

"We think the government kept Kobol's location a secret wanting to allow Kobol's ecology to fully recover and perhaps someday a new human colony could be established on the planet," Dr. Graystone added. "They didn't want civilian ships from New Kobol journeying to Kobol itself to search the ruins or to risk damaging its fragile ecology."

"Somewhere on New Kobol the coordinates you want exist, but where we just don't know," Dr. Carthews said. A trip to Kobol could be an interesting journey some day. If he was the scientist that rediscovered Kobol's location it would permanently etch his place in history.

"We also know that New Kobal and her colonies lived a very peaceful existence," Dr. Graystone continued. "Their colonies continued to grow and commerce between the systems was very similar to what it is in our own Colonies."

"They maintained a small navy of around forty warships of all classes," Dr. Carthews stated referring to a sheet of paper in front of him where he had jotted down some information. "They had never felt the need for more, many of their politicians thought that forty ships were too many."

"Then they encountered the Ovions," Dr. Graystone said sadly. "Their total population on all their worlds combined was nearly four billion at the time of their first contact with Carillon."

"Four billion," Major Dyson repeated thoughtfully, surprised at the number. "You would think that after fifteen hundred years and starting out with the technology they had the population would have been much higher."

"Yes you would," Dr. Graystone replied nodding her head in agreement. "But when the Kobolans arrived on New Kobol they abandoned much of their technology preferring to live simpler lives. But as the centuries went by they gradually reintroduced the technology back until they reached the current level we observed."

"Then the Ovions attacked the first colony we found," Dr. Carthews said. "The Kobolans were both shocked and repelled by the violence. They immediately started constructing new warships while at the same time sending peace envoys to Carillon. The peace envoys never returned."

"From what we have been able to determine the war lasted nearly four years," Dr. Graystone spoke recalling some of the reading she had done about the war. It had been horrible and horrendous, nuclear weapons being used, massive ground assaults by the Ovions, and the atrocities. Women and children killed without any remorse by the Ovions as they swept through the countryside.

"The Kobolans knew they were losing the war as one colony after another fell," Dr. Carthews continued. "When only New Kobol alone survived they tried a desperate plan. They launched all their surviving warships against Ovion hoping to nuke the planet into submission. They failed and the retaliatory strike by the Ovions destroyed New Kobol, even though ground fighting may have lasted for several years in some areas of the planet."

"Four billion people dead," Jason said quietly. "It was a sad end for the Kobolans.

Dr. Carthews and Dr. Graystone continued to brief Jason and Major Dyson for nearly another hour on some of their discoveries, when they were through the small group sat quietly for several moments.

Nodding his head Jason stood up followed by Major Dyson, "thanks for the report. I know you still have a lot to go through, keep us informed of any interesting developments."

"We shall Admiral," Dr. Graystone replied.

"I would also like to read some of these historical texts myself," Jason stated shifting his attention to Dr. Graystone. "I understand you have transferred a number of them to your computer systems on the Explorer and the Star Search."

"Yes we have copied nearly twelve hundred of the books we brought up, several of them historical," Dr. Graystone replied looking at the Admiral curiously.

"Would you transfer several of the historical text files over to the Titania," Jason said. "I would like to read them myself; I think it would be interesting to read up on what happened to the Kobolans."

'I will take care of it Admiral," Dr. Graystone replied pleased with the interest the Admiral was showing.

Four days later Lt. Ashton and Lt. Johnson entered the ship's recreation center to spot Lt. Grimm and Lt. Everson sitting at a table over in one corner. Walking over the two young women sat down with the other two Lts.

"It's been a long day," Emily moaned leaning back in her chair and stretching.

"You should be in the CIC," Susan replied with a tired smile. "The Admiral wants to push on to the Delphi quadrant as soon as we can. I think we are about to wear the sensors and computers out with all the constant scans he has us doing."

"It's necessary," Karl Everson replied. "We have the mining ship in the asteroids mining heavy metals. We just finished the repairs on the Titania, and have moved the Defiant back into the Crescent's repair bay. We have to stay on top of everything, plus keep watch in case the Ovions manage to find us."

"Dr. Carthews is still complaining about not being able to send out exploration raptors to the nearby systems," Cynthia Johnson added, she didn't know how many times a day the Dr. contacted her wanting to talk to the Admiral.

Karl caught the attention of one of the servers and ordered a round of Ambrosia for all of them. "We need to loosen up some," he said with a grin.

"Let's order some food," Emily said feeling hunger pains and not wanting to drink to much Ambrosia on an empty stomach. "The cafeteria food is ok but sometime it tastes a little too bland."

"I'm glad we have the Agro ship with us," Susan commented brushing a strand of blonde hair back away from her eyes. "At least we can have fresh fruits and vegetables on occasion and not the standard military fare we normally get stuck with."

Karl shook his head at the three girls as they all ordered fruit salads, where as he ordered a steak. "I don't see how you three survive on that," he commented once their food had been delivered.

"It's easy," Susan replied teasingly. "We enjoy the benefits of the fruit and vegetables from the Agro ship this way and it hardly affects our pay. Where as you ordered a steak and that is going to hit your pay pretty heavily with the cubits it costs."

"Yes, but it's worth it," Karl commented sighing contentedly as he chewed and swallowed a piece of the medium rare steak that was on his plate. He then took a deep drink of the Ambrosia in his glass thinking that life could not get much better then this.

"Do you think we will ever see the Ovions again?" Susan asked as she took a bite of her fruit salad.

"I hope not," Emily replied closing her eyes enjoying the fresh taste of her food.

"We put a lot of distance between them and us," Karl replied as he cut off another piece of steak. "Once we are in the Delphi quadrant I don't see how they could ever find us."

"From what I have heard Dr. Graystone say, they don't venture far from their home world anyway," Cynthia replied. "If the Kobolans hadn't stumbled across them on their mineral survey, the war with the Ovions probably never would have occurred."

"Can you imagine what it would have been like if the Kobolans had survived," Emily spoke thoughtfully. "What if we had found actual inhabited Kobolan colonies instead of destroyed ones?"

Everyone was quiet for a minute eating their food and thinking about Emily's comment. What would it have been like to have found living Kobolan colonies? They also wondered just what they would find in the Delphi quadrant.

Five days later Jason stood in the CIC of the Titania. All ships were topped off with Tylium, the two tankers were full, and they had a good load of heavy metals to begin the repairs on the Defiant.

"All ships are ready sir," Major Dyson stated from her position across the operations table.

"Very well then," Jason replied looking around the CIC. "Order all ships to spin up their FTL drives and standby to jump on my command."

On the main view screen, Jason could see the Crescent and her huge repair bay. Inside that bay, the Defiant was docked beginning what would be the first of many long months of repairs.

"Ships ready to jump sir," Major Dyson reported.

"Begin the jump," Jason ordered. He watched the screen as the ships begin to blink out. Then he felt the normal queasiness as the Titania jumped. They had begun the first in a long series of jumps that would finally end in the Delphi quadrant, where they could begin their true mission.

_My wife and I are going to visit my daughter this weekend so I probably will not update next week. I promise the next update will introduce the Delphi quadrant and several surprises that await the fleet there._

_Some future hints for everyone: Unfortunately, we have not seen the end of the Ovions. The Cylons are still waiting in the future. In addition, there is still the fall of the Colonies. Don't forget there is the secret fleet base that is waiting the Titania's return._

_I have everything outlined clear through to the end, and I think that if everyone stays with me you will enjoy where this is going. There will be nothing written that will seriously contradict the TV series. I am just offering some other possibilities._


	5. Chapter 5

**The Delphi Quadrant**

For nearly 30 arduous days, the Delphi exploration fleet had been cruising through the Delphi quadrant, making frequent jumps to different locations. Numerous stars, asteroid fields, and planets had been briefly surveyed. This was a quick survey of the quadrant with the goal of finding a suitable inhabitable planet to place a human colony on. Raptors and exploration raptors were launching around the clock. A soon as one set returned they were serviced, prepped, and refueled for the next crew.

Captain Steele and Lt. Ashton were in one of the Titania's raptors escorting an exploration raptor from the Star Search. Lt. Grimm had tagged along and was sitting behind the two operating a secondary sensor consul and avidly looking out through the raptors thick protective windows at the starscape around them. She didn't get an opportunity to go out in a raptor very often and had jumped at the chance to go along on this survey mission.

"Just where the frak are we?" Aaron mumbled as they came out of their third FTL jump in the last four hours. Two more jumps and they would have to return to the Titania for fuel. The way they were searching star systems, they were burning through their fuel reserves very rapidly. They would have to stop to mine more Tylium shortly if this kept up much longer.

Lt. Susan Grimm was using some specialized sensors the raptor had been equipped with to scan the surrounding area of space, even though she knew the exploration raptor could do a much more thorough job and do it quicker. She hoped that her expertise with computers and sensors would allow her to spot a suitable planet before the exploration raptor did.

"The only contact on the Dradis is the exploration raptor," Emily reported with a hint of disappointment in her voice, looking closely at the small Dradis screen in front of her.

"This is a small open star cluster with twenty eight stars," Susan replied patiently to Aaron. "According to the initial astrometrics scans from the Star Search, fourteen of these suns are capable of sustaining life if they have planets in the liquid water zone. Eight of the stars are stable G2 class stars and the others are H and O class which could also sustain inhabitable planets."

"I know," Aaron replied scanning his controls making sure everything was operating smoothly. "But the last two were busts; I just wish we would find something soon. The Admiral really wants us to find a suitable planet for the colony."

"I hear the colonists on the two colony ships are starting to get impatient," Emily commented adjusting several controls on her flight consul.

"Can you blame them," Susan replied as she read the data flowing across her sensor screens. "They have been cooped up on their ships for over one hundred days, something they are not used to."

Emily put her finger to her right ear where her miniature com unit was inserted. "The exploration raptor's sensors have found a planet in the liquid water zone," she reported excitedly. "They want to jump to the planet immediately."

"Very well," Aaron replied. "Get the coordinates and put them in the FTL computer, we will jump together. Maybe our luck has changed."

Several minutes later, the two raptors jumped into orbit around a new planet.

"Holy frak," Emily spoke stunned as she looked out the raptor's protective window down at the planet below them.

"I don't believe it," Susan added moving closer to the nearest window so she could see better.

"It looks just like Caprica," Aaron said quietly, almost holding his breath, afraid the visage below might vanish. Below was a world of green, brown, and blue. Scattered white clouds floated serenely below them over the green and brown landscape. Several large deep blue oceans were plainly visible.

"My scans show the planet is fifty-four percent water and the rest is land," Emily reported as the two raptors slowly circled the planet. "Orbital rotational period of the planet is 348 days, and a day," she paused for a moment as the raptor's computer did some quick calculations, "is twenty two hours and about forty minutes."

"Almost like Caprica," Susan replied as her eyes scanned her own information on the sensors. A day on Caprica was a little over twenty-three hours. "Atmosphere seems to be close to Caprica's, 76 percent nitrogen, 23 percent oxygen, 1 percent argon .05 percent carbon dioxide, and traces of other gases."

"Almost perfect," Aaron commented leaning back slightly, unable to take his gaze off the planet. "What about water vapor?"

"It seems to be between 2 to 4 percent," Susan replied locating the data on here screen. "The planet is 12, 432 kilometers in diameter, just slightly less then Caprica's. Gravity will be 98 percent normal."

"Outside of Caprica this is the best potentially inhabitable planet that anyone has ever found!" Aaron stated still amazed at what they were orbiting. The people back at the fleet would be thrilled at what they had found.

"The exploration raptor has confirmed all of our findings plus others," Emily reported as she listened intently to her com unit. "Their scans confirm animal life, multitudes of varied plant life, and a vibrant ocean system capable of supporting numerous species of sea life."

"I think we need the rest of the fleet," Aaron commented with a huge smile on his face. It was obvious that the planet below them would be ideal for the colony. They could bring the rest of the fleet and after the exploration ship's scientists finished their studies, the actual colonization could begin. Aaron was looking forward to some quality time down on the planet. Maybe even a little planetary exploration would be in order. Maybe he could even find a mountain to climb!

Six hours later the Titania jumped into the system. The rest of the fleet appeared around her as they completed their jumps. Jason looked at the main view screen amazed at the planet that was now centered on the screen. He had seen the initial reports and couldn't believe their luck. If the reports were accurate, they had found a jewel. This planet was a rarity in the darkness of space.

Everyone in the CIC was quiet finding it hard to believe the planet on the view screen. There were twelve inhabited planets in the Colonies, plus several moons and even a couple of asteroids, but only Caprica could compare to the planet they were now orbiting.

"Dradis raptors have been launched," Major Dyson reported as reports from the launching bays came in. "CAP vipers are also taking up standard patrol positions."

"Very well," Jason replied as the crew of the CIC did their jobs professionally, even though he could see everyone stealing occasional excited looks at the main view screen. With what was on the screen, he really couldn't blame them for that. Frak he could hardly keep his own eyes off the screen.

"We must know of twenty to twenty five inhabitable worlds in all the explorations done by the Colonies and now us," Major Dyson said as she gazed breathlessly at the screen. "Most planets have some flaw, to cold, to hot, deserts, volcanoes, storms, even too much water like Aquaria. This planet and Caprica seem to be the rarity, a combination of all the above, but just in the correct mix."

"Admiral I have both Dr. Carthews and Dr. Graystone on the com, they want to start landings immediately," Lt. Johnson reported, but this time with a smile. She knew the Admiral also shared their impatience. Who could blame them after looking at the planet on the view screen!

"Tell them to go ahead," Jason replied looking over at the Lt. "Standard precautions for bio hazards and other possible contaminants, once everything is clear we will begin widespread planetary exploration."

Hours passed by slowly as they waited results from the four exploratory raptors that had settled down in different geographical areas on the surface. A military raptor set next to each exploratory raptor in case their marines were needed. The scientists inside the raptors were busy taking air samples, soil samples, and even a few plant samples obtained by scientists who had ventured out of the raptors in containment suits.

"Sir I have the final report of the system makeup," Lt. Grimm stated as data flowed across her computer screen from her astrometrics scan. We have four exploratory raptors and six fleet raptors jumping across the system scanning everything in detail. There are six planets in the system. One inside of this planets orbit and the other four further out. Two are major gas giants and the other two are about twice the size of Caprica. There are no major asteroid fields in orbit around the star."

"Damn," Lt. Everson said disappointed, asteroids were a major source of metals. "That could be a problem for mineral mining."

"Not necessarily," Lt. Grimm replied as she continued to study the data. "The gas giant in position five has a major asteroid field orbiting it; in addition the gas giant in position four has over twenty small moons in orbit."

"Major Dyson contact the Haven and have her send a couple of her mineral survey raptors out to the small moons and the asteroid field and see what they can find," Jason ordered intrigued by the possibilities the asteroid field and the moons might offer. "Also send a couple of armed fleet raptors as escorts."

"Sir, I have Dr. Carthews on the com," Lt. Johnson reported listening intently. "He reports that all tests are negative and that we should have no problem moving about the surface unprotected."

"Very well," Jason replied pleased that the most important part of his mission could now begin. "Authorize full planetary exploration; let's find sites for our colony!"

Two days later Jason stood on the planetary surface in a large river valley that led down to the nearby ocean. In the distance, snow capped peaks from a series of mountains hinted at the origination of part of the wide slow moving river that meandered through the long valley. Jason knew that exploration teams had located several other small rivers that fed the main one as well as the melting snow from the mountains. The valleys soil was rich and it was teaming with vegetation, much of it in knee high green grass. It would be ideal for their animals. Numerous trees of varying types dotted the landscape, particularly along the river. Several seemed similar to the trees back on Caprica, but others were definitely different. Some of the trunks were of a darker color, the leaves had a slight purple tint, and Jason had found one tree with small flowers growing out of the center of the leaves.

"What do you think Admiral," Dr. Graystone spoke breathing in the clear valley air and enjoying the mild scents of growing things intermingled.

"This looks like a good place for one of the colony ships to land its people," Jason replied looking around appreciatively. Two Spectre Assault shuttles, two exploration raptors, several large fleet shuttles, and four fleet raptors were landed in a small flat area next to the river. He could see numerous people moving around taking samples and mapping the entire valley. Several temporary structures had been erected to use as a headquarters and communications center. Heavily armed marine guards stood close by, keeping a watchful and protective eye on the civilians.

"Dr. Carthews is at the other colony site," Dr. Graystone added reaching down and pulling a seed head off a stem of grass, which she eyed curiously. "He says they are making good progress and should be ready to begin landing the colonists in another four to six days. That is about what we are expecting here also."

"Excellent," Jason replied pleased with the progress they were making. They had chosen two colony sites, the first in the river valley where he was currently, and the other on a large flat plane with two large rivers running across it. They would be damming up one of the rivers as a source of power. They had chosen that particular site for its year around temperate climate. The dammed up river would make part of the plane into a huge lake and the colony site would be right next to it.

"What are the latest reports from the survey raptors?" Dr. Graystone asked curiously, breaking open the grass seed head to see how many small seeds it contained.

"Better then expected," Jason replied. "The asteroid belt around the gas giant is rich in heavy metals, and two of the moons around the other one are showing traces of Tylium deposits."

"This is just what Admiral Kronus and Admiral Corman were hoping for," Dr. Graystone commented as she watched several young men and women walking along the river. She saw one of the young men stop and pick up a rock then toss it into the river trying to make it skim across the surface. The rock bounced twice then sank; she could hear the others with him laugh. The small group then continued along the river taking notes and samples of what they were finding.

"Yes," Jason replied as he watched the small group with a slight smile, he could remember skimming rocks with his father as a child. "Once we get the colony established and more of the quadrant explored we can return home for the main colony fleet."

"This world will make a great planet to live on," Dr. Graystone said releasing the seed head, realizing she would need a microscope to get an accurate count of the extremely small seeds. "You know I might even decide to settle here myself."

"It might be fun and exciting building a new colony," Jason admitted thoughtfully. "We also have the rest of the Delphi quadrant to explore, that's going to take some time to do accurately and thoroughly."

"What is the time line on that?" Dr. Graystone asked. She had no desire to return to the exploration ships anytime soon, the work to be done down on the surface was going to be too interesting for quite some time.

"Not for a few more weeks yet," Jason replied recalling the schedule he had been working on. "We have done a basic survey of this star cluster, and will probably be doing a much more thorough survey before we move on. We can do that with the exploration raptors."

"I still can't believe that we found four star systems with habitable worlds," Dr. Graystone replied recalling the reports she had studied from the exploration of the cluster.

"Four worlds and this is the best one," Jason commented. "The other three are good and will make excellent future colonies someday, but I don't think they will compare to what this world will become."

"What's next on your agenda?" Dr. Graystone asked curiously.

Jason smiled as he thought about what was next on the colonization schedule. "We will begin sitting up the orbital automated factories as well as the space station."

"So the Crescent will be disassembled," Dr. Graystone stated, knowing some of the plans.

"Yes, the Crescent's CIC will become the command center for the new station," Jason continued recalling the schematics he had reviewed that very afternoon. "The large repair bay will be modified where it can repair or build almost any ship that we have the specs for. We could build a Jupiter class Battlestar once all the modifications have been completed."

"What about the Defiant?" Dr. Graystone asked, knowing they were still working on the severely damaged Gunstar. "Are you going to finish her repairs first?"

"We can complete the repairs while the bay is being modified," Jason replied. "The final specs for the station are for two large ship construction bays."

"We can build any type ship that we need?" Dr. Graystone asked surprised.

"Yes, as I said from a Battlestar, a freighter, mining ships, anything in our spec base, and our spec base is pretty inclusive," Jason replied. "Admiral Corman didn't leave much out."

Jason spent another couple of hours with Dr. Graystone as they walked about the proposed colony site, discussing where she envisioned everything going. Dr. Graystone had spent the previous evening aboard one of the colony ships discussing the details of the layout of the colony in the river valley with the colony administrator.

In space, Captain Steele and Lt. Ashton were in a raptor flying through the moons of the largest gas giant. Multi colored bands of clouds swirled through the atmosphere of the large planet driven by horrendous winds. Captain Steele was extremely careful to keep a safe distance between the raptor and the gas giant at all times. The small raptor moved gracefully around the moons as Captain Steele continuously adjusted their flight path as gravity from the large planet pulled steadily at the raptor.

"I can't believe all the moons this gas giant has," Emily said, gazing out the raptor's window at the small moon they were currently flying over. The landscape was rough and desolate with no atmosphere. Large boulders and meteor craters scarred its surface. She shivered slightly glad they were not planning a landing on the small moon.

"They range in size from four hundred kilometers to nearly six thousand," Aaron replied as he flew lower to the surface. He turned on a small scanner to begin mapping the Tylium deposits a survey raptor had found a few days previously on this particular moon. The survey raptors were currently cataloguing the mineral deposits in the asteroid field around the other gas giant. Aaron had been assigned with the follow up survey for the Tylium. He didn't really mind it; he really loved flying whether it was a raptor or a viper.

"This moon has some good Tylium deposits," Aaron commented as he glanced at the data coming across the sensor as the raptor gently followed the curve of the small moon. "It should last the colony for a good number of years and there is another moon further out with even larger Tylium deposits."

"It almost seems like this system was made for us," Emily replied turning her face to look at Aaron. "Have you been down to the surface of the planet yet?"

"No but I intend to as soon as I can," Aaron replied adjusting the sensor slightly. "I volunteered to help set up the colony settlements."

"I got stuck with planetary raptor surveys," Emily said looking mildly disappointed, she really enjoyed spending time with Aaron; he was like the older brother she had never had. "Guess I should have signed up sooner."

"The Admiral thinks it will do everyone some good to get in some planet time," Aaron replied as they neared the end of their low orbit. "From what I understand two Gunstars will stay completely crewed at all times in case they are needed. The other two will keep a minimal crew on board in case of an emergency. Even so that allows nearly fifty percent of the crew of two Gunstars to help out down on the planet."

"I heard that crews from the other ships will be coming down also," Emily added remembering what she had overheard in the recreation room the previous evening. "Since all the ships are in orbit only minimal crews will be kept on board, everyone else will be down on the surface helping with the two colony sites."

"Just as well," Aaron replied. "After all, the crews of the Tylium tankers, the supply ships, and even the marines can be used down on the planet."

"I can't wait to see the colony sites completed," Emily said excitedly, recalling the plans for the new cities. "We are going to build two brand new cities for our people!"

""It won't take that long," Aaron replied as the sensor beeped indicating the Tylium deposits were now thoroughly mapped. "Not when we really get started with the work down on the planet."

Aaron nosed the raptor up and adjusted their course for the other larger moon on which the survey raptors had found Tylium traces. Aaron enjoyed flying the raptor but with everything going on down on the new planet, that was the place to be.

Four days later Jason watched on the Titania's main view screen as four large colonization shuttles left the colony ship Sierra, and began their unhurried descent toward the surface. The shuttles contained the materials and work robots to begin construction of the first settlement. Colony administrator Andrew Kargan was on board the first shuttle, this would be his first trip to the planet.

"Those work robots remind me to much of spiders," Major Dyson commented standing next to Jason at the operations table.

"They are highly specialized Major," Lt. Grimm said from where she was sitting at her computer consul. "Each robot is one and a half meters in length with six specialized appendages. They can build almost anything under proper supervision."

"They remind me to much of the Cylons," Major Dyson said with a slight chill in her voice, not liking the idea of depending so much on these specialized work robots. "The Cylons started out as just work robots also!"

"They are completely harmless," Lt. Grimm continued looking over at the Major. "They have very limited CPUs and have to be reprogrammed every eight hours to function. Their CPUs are designed to allow them to do only the job they have been currently programmed. When that job is completed, they automatically return to their regeneration pod for charging and their next set of instructions. They have no cognitive functions at all."

"Yes I know," Major Dyson replied with a slight sigh. "I just don't like any type of robots, particularly after what happened with the Cylons. They were supposed to be harmless to."

"Don't worry Major," Jason said with a slight smile trying to put her at ease, knowing that the work robots were also programmed with a self-destruct code that only he and a few others knew. Even though the robots were supposed to be harmless, he had insisted on this additional precaution. "There are human supervisors at all the work sites continuously monitoring the work robots. We are even using them to work on the new space station and the automated factories we have began assembling in orbit."

"Which reminds me," Major Dyson spoke remembering what she had meant to talk to the Admiral about before they began talking about the work robots.

"The Haven has begun mining some heavy metals on one of the asteroids; they have also started the refining process. We should see the first loaded shuttle arrive here tomorrow."

"Excellent," Jason said pleased to hear this. "The metals will be used to complete the first automated orbital factory. Once that factory is completed it can be programmed to begin producing the specialized parts we need for the other three orbital factories as well as the space station."

"One factory to build defense satellites, one to build specialized parts and electronics for the space station, and the other two to produce necessary materials for use at the new colonies," Lt. Emerson commented. "I still don't understand why we didn't build the last two on the surface."

"It's actually quiet simple," Lt. Grimm spoke up; she had helped to sit up the programming for the orbital factories. "There will be numerous automated factories at both colony settlements; however the two in orbit will be making parts that are best produced in a vacuum, plus the raw materials will be coming from the mining operations the Haven is sitting up. Computers, view screens, specialized electronics, complex equipment parts, highly specialized machine parts, and other necessary items that are more easily produced in orbit."

"I guess," Lt. Emerson replied dubiously as he glanced occasionally at his Dradis screen, which still showed only the colony fleet ships.

"Also all the orbital factories will be powered by large Tylium fusion reactors," Lt. Grimm added pointedly. "The planetary factories will be using much smaller Tylium power plants. For safety reasons alone it is better to have these massive factories in orbit."

"We will have to begin mining Tylium again within four months," Jason said thoughtfully. "I wish we had included one more mining ship in the fleet, it sure would make things easier."

"We should be ok," Major Dyson responded looking at the Admiral. "The Haven is capable of sitting up a number of small automated independent mining operations which require only small maintenance and support crews."

"I know, but I guess I am just getting a little impatient," Jason replied. "I want to see our two colony sites and orbital constructs completed as soon as possible."

Two months later, Lt. Grimm, Lt. Everson, Lt. Johnson, Lt. Aston, and Captain Steele were all down on the planet together. The four Lts. had wrangled a two-day pass from the Admiral, and the Admiral had sent the Captain down to keep a watchful eye on the four young Lts. They were currently enjoying a peaceful picnic next to the river where the city of Paradeen was nearing completion. They had set up a small campsite beneath several large green shade trees.

"I can't believe how much has already been completed in the city," Cynthia commented glad to be away from her communication post for a few days. She loved her work in the CIC but some rest and recreation had been sorely needed. She was wearing very high cut shorts and a light blouse. It felt so good to be out of uniform, if only for a few precious days. She hoped she could get Karl to notice her while they were down on the planet; he was so wrapped up in his work when they were on the Titania, other then an occasional meal with the other Lts., they seldom spoke.

"It's the work robots," Susan replied leaning back and stretching. She was watching Karl fishing a few feet away trying to catch one of the fish the river supposedly was abundant in. "They work around the clock except for when they need recharging."

"They look like big spiders," Emily said frowning. "I get the shivers every time I get around one of them. I am so glad we don't use them on the Titania!"

Aaron only smiled listening to the girls chatter, listening to Emily was almost like having his younger sister here. He could very well imagine her making the same comment about the work robots. He didn't mind the robots himself, perhaps because he was one of the few that had the self-destruct code. He had read up on the work robots when he had found out they were going to be used on the colony. From all of his studies they should be completely harmless.

His thoughts were interrupted by Karl's triumphant holler as his fishing rod bent way over and he set the hook on a fish.

Everyone turned to watch Karl curious to see just what he had hooked.

"I've got one," he yelled as he frantically began reeling the fish in. In just a few moments, he had what looked like a large catfish flopping around on the shore a few feet from the water. Reaching down he picked the fish up behind the gills and then rapidly let go of it. "Holy frak!" he exclaimed eyeing the fish that now flopped by his feet. "That things got teeth, really big teeth!"

"Oh frak," Susan sighed getting up and walking over to Karl. Reaching down she picked the fish up behind the gills and looked closely at its mouth. Even in the Colonies, some species of fish had teeth. They just had to be handled carefully. Sure enough very large and sharp teeth were visible.

"I think it can keep that hook," Karl said stepping back away from Susan who was examining the fish curiously.

Susan reached down and rummaged quickly through Karl's tackle finding a pair of long fish pliers. With a quick deft movement, she removed the hook from the fish's mouth. Holding the fish out to Karl, she said teasingly, "Here is your lunch!"

"I don't think so," Karl replied shaking his head. "Anything that can bite back I have no interest in."

"Very well," Susan said laughing as she released the fish back into the river.

"Just where did you learn that?" Aaron asked looking inquisitively at Susan. "I wouldn't have expected you to be the outdoor type."

"My father used to take me fishing back on Aquaria before I went off to the Academy on Picon," Susan replied. She remembered those days very fondly.

"So just how large are the two cities going to be?" Cynthia asked looked off in the direction of Paradeen, which was plainly visible down the river. She could see the large central hospital and the main administration building rising above the other buildings.

"Each city is being built to hold twenty five thousand inhabitants," Aaron replied recalling his briefing on the colony plans. "Each colony ship has fifteen hundred colonists and with some of the crews that will be staying, there will be about four thousand people living in each city until we return with the main colony fleet."

"There will also be a permanent marine base built," Emily added feeling some hunger pains. "Colonel Stark has already picked out a site and construction will begin on the marine base as soon as the two colony sites are completed."

"Also some of the ships that will be staying, parts of their crews will be living in the cities when their ships are in orbit," Susan said setting back down on the large blanket they were all on. "Most of the time there will be close to six thousand people in each city."

"Well let's eat," Karl said coming over and setting down next to Cynthia. "I am starving!"

"Good think we didn't depend on you to catch and clean our lunch," Cynthia replied teasingly. She was pleased and pleasantly surprised that Karl had sat down next to her. Leaning over she opened the large picnic basket they had brought. "There is plenty here for everybody."

On board the Titania Major Dyson frowned slightly at the crew in the CIC. While much of the senior crew was still present for the main duty shift, she felt ill at ease with the three Lts. gone. Lt. Grimm's knowledge of the ship's systems and the way she could read and interpret the ship's sensors made her feel more secure. The young ensign at the Dradis was signaling for her attention once more. This was the third time he had supposedly spotted what appeared to be a sensor ghost on the Dradis. Each time when she had checked, she had not been able to find anything. Lt. Everson would have been able to identify the problem immediately. When he got back, she would make sure he spent some quality time with this ensign on Dradis operations. Inexperienced Dradis operators were almost always spotting sensor ghosts.

Two days later Lt. Emerson was back at his Dradis consul, the two days spent down on the planet had been great. They had camped out by the river and really enjoyed the freedom of having absolutely no responsibilities for two relaxing, invigorating days. He had also got to know Cynthia a lot better. Now he was looking at what appeared to be a sensor ghost in the upper right hand corner of his Dradis screen. This was the same type of signature that the young ensign had reported to Major Dyson. Pressing his com piece in his right ear, he spoke to Lt. Grimm. "Susan I have that sensor ghost on my screen, can you call it up on your screens and see what is causing it? I haven't seen anything quite like this before."

"Just a moment Karl," Susan responded as she called up the Dradis information on her main computer screen. Sure enough in the upper right had corner was a small area of what looked like very fine static. "I want to run an analysis on the other sensor ghosts against this one, it will take a few minutes."

Major Dyson was listening to the exchange between the two junior officers. She routinely left her earpiece on so she could stay on top of what was going on in the CIC without bothering the Admiral. If something of importance came up, she could have the Admiral turn his mini com on to weigh in.

"Frak," Susan said suddenly with concern in her voice as the data from the previous sensor ghosts ran across her screen. "Karl the sensor ghosts are identical. I am going to use some of the ships other sensors to scan the area of space where the sensor ghost is, stand by."

"Admiral," Major Dyson said gesturing toward her right ear signaling that he needed to activate his mini com. "We may have a situation developing."

Jason turned his com on just in time to hear Susan's stunned voice. "My scans show a dead area of space approximately twenty five hundred meters in diameter."

"What could cause that," Karl asked turning to look at Susan across the CIC. "It can't be natural!"

"No it isn't," Susan replied studying her screen intently. "Major Dyson, I believe we have a cloaked space craft approximately eight million kilometers from our current position."

Jason felt his stomach suddenly feel squeamish as concern set in. "Lt. Grimm this is the Admiral, is it possible that we have an Ovion ship or ships in the system?" It would still be several months before they could begin constructing the orbital defense platforms. Once they were safely in orbit, he would feel much more secure about the safety of the fledging colony. For now, the orbiting Gunstars held that responsibility and the Defiant was still in dry dock.

"I don't believe it's Ovion sir," Lt. Grimm replied as she studied her scans intently with a slight crease from concentration across her forehead. "I don't believe from the technology we saw back at New Kobol that the Ovions are capable of something like this."

"Major Dyson, bring the Titania to condition one and move us up and away from the planet," Jason ordered wondering just what they had found or more worriedly, what exactly had found them!

Through out the entire ship the alert status sounded and crewmembers hurriedly manned their stations. In the flight bays, two squadrons of vipers were being readied to be launched from the bay's launch tubes.

"Ship is at condition one sir," Major Dyson reported as she scanned and listened to reports coming from various sections of the Titania.

"Very well order the Lodestar and Nebula to go to condition two and to stand by for further orders," Jason ordered as he eyed the Dradis screen and the area of space that Lt. Grimm had highlighted. "They are to hold their positions above the two colony sites. Inform them that the Titania is moving off to investigate a potential unidentified spacecraft."

"Admiral," Lt. Grimm spoke as she studied some additional information on her screen. "If we launch four raptors and adjust their Dradis sensors to scan on these lower frequencies I think we can penetrate their cloaking field."

"How close will they have to be Lt.?" Jason asked not wanting to put the raptor crews in unnecessary danger.

"Ten thousand kilometers sir," Lt. Grimm reported as she double-checked the numbers on her screen.

"We could use a short FTL jump," Major Dyson said thoughtfully. "We could jump all four raptors to their designated positions and began scans before the cloaked ship could react. At least we would get a good idea what we are facing."

"Use four raptors armed with interceptor missiles," Jason said not wanting to put four defenseless crews into a position they could not escape from. Once they jumped, it would take a few minutes to compute new FTL coordinates. At least being armed gave them a fighting chance against enemy fighters.

The Titania continued to pull away from the planet. Jason had their course adjusted so it looked like they were heading out toward the gas giant where the asteroid mining was taking place and not so much toward the Dradis contact. "Have the vipers ready to launch and I want two Hades missiles loaded into the bow launch tubes just in case."

"Raptors are away sir," Major Dyson reported as four blips appeared on the Dradis screen and moved away from the Titania. "Captain Steele has the first group of vipers in the launch tubes ready to launch on your command. The Hades missiles are being loaded into tubes one and four."

"Very well Major, order the raptors to activate their FTLs once they have reached a safe distance from the Titania, when they reach the target the Titania will turn and engage," Jason spoke as he scanned the operations table.

The four raptors vanished suddenly as they activated their FTL drives and simultaneously appeared ten thousand kilometers away from their target. Instantly their Dradis sensors became active scanning the targeted area of space. The Titania made a sudden forty degree turn and the sublight drive drove the ship rapidly toward the target.

"Increase sublight drive to sixty percent, continue to close with the target, all main batteries to lock on target," Jason ordered as he watched the operation table intently which now showed the Titania, the raptors, and their intended target. "No weapons are to be fired until I give the order!"

"Hades missiles ready sir," Major Dyson reported as she listened to the report from Captain Edison. "Devastator two missiles are in the other two tubes if needed."

Jason watched on the Dradis screen as the small area of static suddenly became solid and took on the shape of a spaceship. "Can you identify it?" Jason demanded looking inquiringly at Lt. Grimm. On the main view screen, only a small bright dot was visible.

"Give me a moment sir; I am running the recognition program now," she replied as her fingers flew across her keyboard.

"Lt. Johnson send identification inquiry toward the target, tell them if they don't identify themselves, they will be fired upon," Jason said as the target neared extreme weapons range. He did not intend to get to close to the target without knowing something about its capabilities. Once they reached weapons range, he would stop the ship and wait for a response from the other spacecraft.

"We have missile lock," Captain Edison reported as the targeting computers fed the information into the guidance systems of the two Hades missiles.

"Lt. Grimm, Lt. Johnson anything?" Jason asked as he studied the operations table intently trying to decide the best approach for the Titania to take if it came to armed conflict between the two ships.

A few more tense moments passed then Lt. Grimm broke in on the com in a shocked and stunned voice. "It's Kobolan sir!"

"Kobolan!" Jason echoed back surprised, he had not been expecting this. For a moment, he wondered just how the frak this could be a Kobolan ship. From their studies back on New Kobol, he thought all the Kobolans had been wiped out by the Ovions.

"Sir I have a response to our identification inquiry, it's in standard Kobolan," Lt. Johnson spoke excitedly. "They say they are the Kobolan Battle cruiser Zeus and mean no hostile intent. They want to talk sir!"

"Holy frak," Major Dyson breathed as she gazed at the main view screen, which was now beginning to show the Kobolan ship in more detail.

"Sir the ship is fifteen hundred meters in length and very heavily armed," Lt. Grimm reported as the Kobolans dropped their cloaking field and her sensors could now scan the ship unhindered. "The ship looks to be more advanced then the ones we saw back in the New Kobolan system, I can't identify some of the weapons and the power readings are off the scale."

"Major drop us to ten percent sublight and order the raptors to back off," Jason ordered, as he didn't want to risk an incident now that they had identified the ship as Kobolan. "Take us to condition two but hold the vipers ready to launch."

"Are you sure that's wise sir, dropping us to condition two?" Major Dyson asked. "If this is a trick and they are trying to lure us in we will be at a tactical disadvantage."

"I know Major," Jason replied as his gaze swept across the CIC. "But that ship is larger then the Titania and obviously more heavily armed. It is also probably much more advanced in weapons technology then we are, if they want to destroy us there is probably nothing we can do!"

Ten minutes later the Titania came to a stop one hundred kilometers from the Kobolan battle cruiser. The Kobolan ship was truly impressive. It out massed and outgunned the Titania in every category. The ship was covered in weapons turrets and missile tubes. There were also about twenty turrets they could not identify as to what type of weapons they used.

"Sir I have another message from the Kobolan ship," Lt. Johnson reported. "They would like to send an envoy over. They say they are from the Kobolan planet Terra, and would like to establish peaceful relations with us. Their ship's captain says that they have been observing us for quite some time and were about to contact us shortly anyway."

"Very well," Jason replied as he looked at the CIC crew and the amazed and astonished looks that were on their faces. No one had expected to find living Kobolans in the Delphi quadrant. "Inform the Kobolans that is acceptable and we also would like to establish peaceful relations."

"Frak," Major Dyson said shaking her head as Lt. Johnson sent the message. "This mission gets more and more interesting all the time!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Terra**

It was four intense hours since the Titania had encountered the powerful Kobolan battle cruiser Zeus. The Titania was currently in orbit above the colony waiting for personnel from the ground to come up. The Zeus was in close orbit ten kilometers away. The main view screen was focused on the Zeus showing the Kobolan battle cruiser very clearly. Everyone in the CIC stole occasional excited looks at the screen still finding it hard to believe they had encountered living Kobolans.

Jason was still in mild shock from his brief meeting with the Kobolan Emissary Damien Osiris. From what Emissary Osiris had told Jason, the Kobolans had been observing the colonists for several months. That was why Emissary Osiris was on board the Zeus. The Kobolans had decided that contact was inevitable so they had chosen for it to be on their terms. It seemed that the sensor ghost had been intentional, their stealth field was quiet capable of not being detected at all.

"This is all amazing," Major Dyson said shaking her head. "If what he said is true, some of their technology is far in advance of our own."

"They have had nearly five hundred years of peace to advance," Jason replied recalling his brief conservation with the Emissary. The Kobolans medical technology, computer technology, and even some of their weapons technology was far in advance of the Colonials.

They had talked for a few minutes in the Titania's conference room before Jason realized that more people needed to be involved in this historic meeting. After explaining his reasoning to Emissary Osiris, the Emissary had agreed and returned to the Zeus and the two ships had proceeded to the planet. In two more hours, they were scheduled to meet in the large conference room aboard the colony ship Sierra. Jason had felt it best not to have this monumental meeting aboard a warship. While it was true they had all originated on Kobol, thousands of years of separation lay between them.

The two hours seemed to pass swiftly by and Jason soon found himself in the large conference room aboard the Sierra. The captain of the Sierra had saw to it that the conference room was properly supplied with lavish fruit trays from the agro ship, fresh drinking water, and even several of the rare alcoholic beverages that had been brought from the Twelve Colonies. Jason noticed that several rare vintages of Ambrosia were even present. A large view screen on the front wall was focused on the planet below showing a world of living green, blue, browns, and drifting white clouds. On each side of the view screen were the flags of the Colonies. Six on one side and six on the other.

Colony Administrator Andrew Kargan sat at the head of the Colonies side of the table with Admiral Stone and Dr. Carthews on either side of him. Dr. Graystone, Commander Addison, Colonel Stark, and Captain Steele made up the rest of the Colonies delegation. Across the table from them sat Emissary Damien Osiris, Captain Mase Landers of the Zeus, science specialist Denise Anthon, and historian Professor Lance Clarion.

"I must apologize for our actions Administrator Kargan and Admiral Stone," Emissary Osiris began apologetically. "We did not know just who you people were until we began monitoring your communications. We were deeply shocked to learn that you were fellow humans from the Thirteen Tribes of Kobol. We had thought that we were the only survivors."

"I understand your need for caution," Administrator Kargan replied placing his hands on the table. "After your experience with the Ovions such caution would be expected."

"You know of the Ovions!" Captain Landers spoke, with surprise showing on his face. "What do you know of those insidious creatures?"

"We found New Kobol and while exploring your former colony were attacked by the Ovions," Jason replied looking at the Kobolan group across the table who were listening to his words with interest. "We managed to escape and continued on to this quadrant hopefully leaving the Ovions far behind."

"You were fortunate," Captain Landers spoke shaking his head slowly. "If they had attacked you with a larger force we might not be sitting in this room together today."

"We were lucky," Jason replied nodding his head in agreement. "The Ovions obviously were not prepared to find humans back at New Kobol, and the fleet that hit us was probably a quick response force. No doubt they returned after we left with a much larger fleet."

"Do you have scans of the battle between your fleet and the Ovions?" Emissary Osiris asked glancing at Captain Landers. "We would like to view them to see if their weapons technology has advanced since our last encounter five hundred years ago."

"We do," Jason replied, they had some very detailed scans of the battle. "I will have Major Dyson send you our scans and our own evaluations of their capabilities after our meeting to the Zeus. "One thing you might find of interest is the fact that their ships were equipped with energy shields. They were not powerful shields but they were in use as the scans will show."

"Energy shields," Captain Landers spoke with worry on his face. "That is a new development. They did not have them at the battle of New Kobol. That's a technology advance we were not expecting."

"It seems that our war with the Ovions five hundred years ago may have sped up their technology advancements," Emissary Osiris commented with a little worry edging into his voice.

Everyone was silent for a few moments then Dr. Carthews asked a question.

"During our studies on New Kobol we found no evidence of any survivors. How did your people manage to escape?"

"I think Professor Clarion can best explain that, he is a historian and familiar with our history on New Kobol, as well as the search for survivors after the Ovion caused Holocaust."

Professor Clarion looked across the table at the Colonials who were all curious to hear his explanation. "Our leaders on New Kobol realized when our main fleet failed to seriously damage the Ovion fleet and bases then failed also in the attack on the Ovion home world, that the war was lost. Too many ships failed to return. Such massive fleet losses had not been anticipated."

"What happened? Why wasn't the attack successful?" Jason asked intrigued from a military standpoint.

"We hadn't been able to accurately survey their home system for several years. Their fleet was much larger and more capable then we believed possible," Professor Clarion replied with a look of sadness on his face. "Only seven battle cruisers and eight escorts made it back to New Kobol from our attacking fleet. Fifty-two ships failed to return. We knew we wouldn't have time to rebuild our fleet. It just took to long to build new warships. Our leaders believed once the Ovions assessed the tactical situation, they would press their advantage and launch a full-scale assault against New Kobol. While it is true that the Ovions technology advances are very slow and cautious, they are still a highly intelligent race."

"How many ships were still at New Kobol, surely you didn't send your entire fleet?" Commander Addison asked.

"No, we kept a small fleet in reserve at New Kobol when we launched the attack. The fleet consisted of four battle cruisers and twelve escorts," Professor Clarion replied.

"Surely you had powerful orbital defenses," Colonel Stark stated recalling the orbital defense grid around the Twelve Colonies.

"Yes," Professor Clarion replied nodding his head, recalling his studies. "We originally felt the orbital defenses would buy us some time. When we realized just how large the Ovion fleet was after our attack on their home world, we knew we wouldn't have enough time to rebuild the fleet. We decided to evacuate as many people as possible. We sent out every civilian ship we still possessed escorted by four battle cruisers and eight escorts. Nearly two hundred ships in all. There were one hundred and forty thousand civilians in the first evacuation fleet."

"So, you came here to the Delphi quadrant?" Dr. Graystone spoke.

"Yes, we did a quick survey and settled on the planet we now call Terra," Professor Clarion replied nodding his head at Dr. Graystone. "The fleet managed to make two more trips between Terra and New Kobol before the Ovions attacked in overwhelming force. They hit new Kobol with over three hundred warships."

"Holy frak," Commander Addison uttered shocked at the number of ships the Ovions had used. He realized now just how lucky they had been to get away from New Kobol. If the Ovions had attacked with a larger fleet the Colonial Gunstars would probably all have been destroyed!

**FLASHBACK: BATTLE OF NEW KOBAL**

Admiral Periciles Lucas stared woefully at the massive view screen on the command battle cruiser Hera's Vengeance. The view screen showed New Kobol floating peacefully in the star field below them. He sat at his command consul with the ship's commander Evian Starbold to his right and the ship's Exec Colonel Sandra Lichen to his left. Around the large CIC, other crewmen were busy manning their stations waiting for the battle that was soon to come. He blinked his eyes wishing he could offer his crew some semblance of hope. For days now, they had been waiting for the expected Ovion attack. The crew was on edge and growing tired from the constant state of alert.

"Fleet disposition?" he asked, as he looked at the ship's scanners seeing that no new threats were currently showing.

He knew that it would be another eight days before the evacuation fleet returned for the next load of refugees. Hopefully they could make another trip or two before the Ovions retaliated for New Kobol's thwarted attack on their home planet.

His ship was the fleet command ship and had been at the battle in the Ovion's home system. He could still remember the shock throughout the fleet when they saw the massive Ovion fleet waiting for them. After a quick conference with the other Admirals, they had decided to press on and try to break through the Ovion fleet so they could hit the Ovion's home world. It was their only chance for victory in the war, and they had failed, failed miserably.

"All ships are fully armed and in star formation with the Hera's Vengeance at the center," Commander Starbold replied checking the fleet formation on his scanner screen. "We have another cruiser and two more escorts that will be completed in four more days at the main shipyards."

"We can use the ships," Admiral Lucas replied staring at the main scanner screen again. He hadn't been getting a lot of sleep since their return from the Ovion's home system. "What is the current status of the defense grid?"

"All one hundred and eighteen secondary defense satellites are on line and all twenty four of the primary satellites," Colonel Lichen replied as she scanned the data as it came across her computer screen. "Defensive and offensive weapons are fully functional on the two shipyards as well as the four orbital stations. All civilian personnel have been evacuated."

It was at that moment that alarms starting sounding in the CIC. A quick look at the scanner screen and Admiral Lucas felt as if a giant fist had suddenly squeezed his heart. On the scanner screen, Ovion ships were appearing. They were not appearing one ship at a time but a squadron at a time!

"All ships to Battle One," Admiral Lucas ordered grimly, knowing that his ships would not survive this battle. Already over one hundred and twenty Ovion ships were on the scanner screens. "Order the defense grid to standby to take out any leakers that we miss. Space stations and shipyards to fire at their discretion."

Aboard the Hera's Vengeance the crew rushed to their stations, they knew that there was very little chance they would survive. Their only hope was to hit the Ovions hard and hope they retreated to allow the evacuation fleet, when it returned, to save more people. They were Kobolan military and they were prepared to die for their planet.

"Spread our formation slightly and let's go get them," Admiral Lucas ordered. "We want to hit them before they get within bombardment range of the planet!"

"All ships go to loose star formation," Commander Starbold ordered over the fleet com. "Sublight at twenty percent power, Hera's Vengeance will sit the course."

More Ovion ships continued to appear, in a few more minutes over three hundred war ships were sitting in space seeming to be waiting on the approaching Kobolan fleet. There were nineteen Kobolan war ships against over three hundred Ovion.

"Ovion fleet consists of two hundred and twelve of their cruiser size ships," Colonel Lichen reported, then more quietly almost in a whisper she added. "There are ninety two dreadnaughts."

Admiral Lucas and Commander Starbold exchanged grim glances knowing what that meant. The Ovions would not be retreating. This might also be a very short battle.

"All ships ripple fire bow missile batteries when targets are locked. We will then initiate a ninety degree turn to starboard and ripple fire starboard hull missile batteries as we cross the front of their fleet," Admiral Lucas commanded wanting to inflict as much damage as possible on the Ovions. "Interceptors and point defense batteries on standby, they will hit us with massive missile waves trying to over whelm our defenses."

"Our missiles will have plenty of targets," Commander Starbold stated quietly. Commander Starbold and Admiral Lucas had served together for many years and were quite good friends. "We should get in some good hits."

The Hera's Vengeance and the other Kobolan ships approached the Ovion fleet, then as one, they launched eighty nuclear missiles at the center of the Ovion fleet formation. Missile after missile blasted from the bow missile tubes of all the ships. As the last missile was launched the fleet turned ninety degrees to starboard, they had not quite finished the turn when their missiles reached the Ovion formation. Brilliant explosions occurred in space as Ovion interceptors managed to knock down thirty-eight of the missiles, then close in defensive turrets blew another twenty-four missile to pieces. However, eighteen nuclear missiles made it through and impacted on the Ovion ships. Brilliant bursts of nuclear fire and destruction spread across the center of the Ovion fleet formation.

"Starboard missile tubes initiating ripple fire," Colonel Lichen reported as her slim fingers danced across her touch screen.

"Status of the Ovion fleet," Admiral Lucas snapped as he watched elatedly as the nuclear fire from their first strike rolled across the main view screen. Some of their missile had managed to get through. Even as he spoke, the Hera's Vengeance shuddered slightly as the starboard missile tubes emptied.

"We got four of their cruisers and heavily damaged one of their dreadnaughts," Colonel Lichen reported as the information from the scanners flowed across her screens. "Frak, their armor is really good! We should have done more damage then that!"

"Ovions are firing," Commander Starbold said with clenched teeth, as the scanner screen was covered with inbound Ovion missiles. "Tracking six hundred and thirty inbound nukes."

"What about our own second strike?" Admiral Lucas demanded wanting to hit the Ovions again before the counter strike arrived.

"Starboard missile magazines are empty sir," Commander Starbold replied his eyes on the inbound missiles. He knew that they were about to lose some ships, there were just too many inbound missiles. "All ships fired off one hundred and seventy nuclear missiles."

"Missile interceptors are launching and defensive turrets are sitting up flak screen," Colonel Lichen reported trying her best to keep her voice calm. The rest of the CIC was strangely quiet.

The Kobolan second missile strike roared into the Ovion fleet, interceptor missiles and defensive turrets took out nearly eighty percent of the strike, but thirty-four missiles penetrated the Ovion defenses striking the Ovion ships. Hulls exploded and armor melted under the intense heat and blast from the nuclear missiles. More then one Ovion ship exploded in a brilliant ball of fire.

"We hurt them!" Commander Starbold spoke, watching the nuclear fire wash across the Ovion formation on the screen. If only their armor wasn't' so thick, most Ovions ships could handle several nuclear strikes with minimal damage.

"Inbound nuke, it's going to hit!" Colonel Lichen gritted out fearfully as the Hera's Vengeance was struck on her starboard side by a powerful nuke.

Admiral Lucas felt the ship shudder and vibrate then felt the ship literally thrown over to the side as if hit by a giant fist. Crewmen in the CIC went flying and consuls exploded as relays and circuits were overloaded, several small fires broke out.

Across the Kobolan fleet nuclear fire raged. The twelve escorts were hit by multiple nukes; escorts were not designed to stand up to this type of horrendous punishment. The escorts died as nuclear fire penetrated their hearts and wiped them and their valiant crews from existence. The six battle cruisers fared little better. Two exploded when their fuel reserves were breached from the horrendous multiple nuclear blasts, another lost all power and most of her crew died as numerous compartments were exposed to the vacuum of space. The radiation from the nuclear blasts would shortly kill the few survivors. The other three battle cruisers survived but just barely. All were leaking atmosphere and had numerous casualties on board.

"Status," Admiral Lucas demanded, his eyes watering from the smoke filling the CIC.

"We lost all of our escorts," Commander Starbold replied, wiping blood off his forehead where he had been struck by debris from an exploding control consul. "The cruisers Harbinger, Achilles, and Minotaur are still with us. They are heavily damaged but still operational."

"Our own status," Admiral Lucas continued, looking across the CIC where medics were tending to a number of injured personnel.

"Two nukes hit us sir," Colonel Lichen replied as she called up the damage report on her consul. Our starboard side is a wreck. We have numerous compartments open to space, all starboard missile batteries destroyed, and twelve defensive turrets out of action."

"Order all ships to turn 180 degrees, fire port missile batteries on completion of turn," Admiral Lucas ordered knowing it might be his last order. "Damage to Ovion fleet?"

"Eight of their cruisers either destroyed or heavily damaged," Colonel Lichen replied checking her scanners. "We also got one of their Dreadnaughts."

"Ovions are firing again," Commander Starbold warned as his screens lit up with the new threat. "We will barely have time to make our turn before the missile strike arrives."

The four Kobolan ships turned rapidly as their ship's sublight drives were taxed to their limits. At the end of the turn, missiles began ripple firing from the port missile batteries. Twenty-eight missiles launched before the Ovion missile strike arrived.

Nuclear fire once again swept across the Kobolan ships. The Harbinger took four nuke strikes to the bow vaporizing a full third of the ship before the next nuke struck the drive section and the ship exploded in a brilliant burst of light and raw energy. The Achilles and Minotaur followed their sister ship as nuclear fire roared across the Kobolan ships from multiple missile strikes. Soon only glowing burning wreckage remained.

Eight nuclear missiles hit the Hera's Vengeance. The bow section was holed in numerous areas leaving the entire bow open to space. Several nuclear strikes hit the port side driving exploding plasma and radiation deep into the heart of the ship. Another strike on the engine section disabled the ship's drive system shattering all the controls and seriously buckling the ships hull. Only the massive amount of armor that the ship carried allowed her to survive at all.

"Status," Admiral Lucas demanded feeling dazed and bruised from the pummeling. The CIC was in shambles, he knew that some members of the CIC crew were dead as they had been thrown clear across the CIC and wreckage had fallen on others. The air in the CIC was rapidly becoming unbreathable. He could hear screams and people crying out for help.

"The other cruisers are gone, I can't tell what our missile strike did, the long range scanners are not operational," Colonel Lichen replied trying to call up data on her screens. Then she became quiet and her eyes widened as she looked past Admiral Lucas at Commander Starbold.

Turning, Admiral Lucas was shocked to see that the Commander was dead. A sharp piece of metal was imbedded in his chest. His long time friend and confident had died instantly; his eyes were still open looking at the scanner screen, which had shown death raining down on his ship.

"Sir, the Ovion ships are ignoring us and are proceeding on to new Kobol," Colonel Lichen said as she watched her short-range scanners, which were partially operational. It showed Ovion ships passing by the Hera's Vengeance on all sides.

"We are no longer a threat," Admiral Lucas replied, wishing that some of their weapons were still working. Their part of the fight was over!

"All of our weapons are out sir," Colonel Lichen reported trying to keep the panic and fear out of her trembling voice. "We have also lost main and secondary power. I can't contact anyone in engineering. I think they are all dead!"

The main view screen was still operational. The only power they had left was in their batteries and a small emergency power generator that was operating. A red warning light was blinking above the heavily armored door to the CIC. The red warning light indicated that vacuum existed on the other side. Rescue would not be coming. Very slowly, the air in the CIC was clearing. On the screen, Admiral Lucas could see the start if the missile exchange between the powerful defense grid around New Kobol and the Ovion ships. The Ovions were not backing down.

For nearly two hours, heavy fire was exchanged between the beleaguered defense grid, the space stations, the shipyards, and the attacking Ovion fleet. Ovion nuclear missiles patiently and methodically blasted defense satellite after defense satellite apart.

Occasionally an Ovion ship would be destroyed as multiple nuclear strikes managed to penetrate the thick armor. The defense grid was finally decimated as the last of the primary defense satellites exploded in nuclear fire.

The Ovion ships then turned their attention to the heavily armed shipyards and space stations. For several long minutes, a massive missile exchange erupted between the Ovions and the last of the defenders. Then one of the shipyards and a space station met their ends in massive nuclear detonations, as waves of Ovion missiles bore in overwhelming their defenses. Shortly after that, the other shipyard and space stations exploded in massive blasts as nuclear fire ravaged their hearts. Then the Ovion fleet settled into orbit around New Kobol. For several minutes, the Ovion fleet orbited unopposed, and then their missile tubes opened and nuclear missiles began raining down on the planet.

Colonel Lichen is the subspace communicator still operational?" Admiral Lucas asked, realizing that it was over and they had lost. They hadn't expected the defense grid to be taken out so rapidly. Millions of people were now dying in the massive nuclear strikes taking place.

"Yes sir," She replied coughing from the smoke still present in the CIC. "But it will take all of our remaining power to activate it."

"Very well, send the following message to the deep space buoy in the Aswalk system for the evacuation fleet," he ordered in a calm and still commanding voice. "Fleet destroyed, defense grid annihilated, New Kobol being nuked, approach with caution, sign it Admiral Periciles Lucas."

After the message was sent, the lights in the CIC slowly faded to darkness and the air ventilation stopped. All was quiet except for the occasional sobs and frightened voices as the crew awaited their fate. Admiral Lucas felt Colonel Lichen's hand reach for his and hold it tightly. He squeezed it gently as they waited for the end together.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"The surviving warships in orbit were all destroyed in the first hour of combat, the defense grid held the Ovions for another two, and then it was overwhelmed," Professor Clarion spoke recalling the detailed history of the event that he had studied. "The last thing the Hera's Vengeance did was to send a message to the evacuation fleet warning them as to what had transpired."

"I don't know of any type of defense grid that could withstand the attack of three hundred warships," Jason spoke shaking his head. "Even the defenses we have back around our main worlds wouldn't be able to withstand that type of attack".

"Once the defense grid was down the Ovions nuked all the major cities and military bases, then they began landing troop transports in the outlying areas," Professor Clarion continued in a more subdued tone of voice.

"They wanted to capture as many humans as possible for food," Dr. Carthews stated. "We found references to that back on New Kobol.

Professor Clarion looked surprised and then continued. "Yes, many of our ground forces survived, they had been moved away from their bases and the major population centers and deployed in the countryside. The ground fighting on New Kobol lasted for nearly five more years before the last survivors were finally evacuated."

"You were still evacuating people even after the Ovions took control of orbital space above New Kobol?" Jason asked surprised. That would have been extremely dangerous.

"Yes, for some reason once our fleet was destroyed and the planet nuked they only kept a few warships in orbit," Professor Clarion replied, with a slightly puzzled look on his face. "They had millions of troops on the ground and these were heavily supported by armed troop transports, but their orbital fleet after the initial attack, never consisted of more then ten or twelve heavily armed vessels. By careful coordination with our troops on the ground, we were able to sneak several ships each night down to the surface. In all over the five years of the evacuation, we managed to save close to two million people. We saved enough people to begin our civilization again on Terra."

Everyone was quiet for a few moments. Then Jason spoke up. "How did you find us? I know we were doing a lot of exploring when we first arrived in this quadrant but we found no trace of any other ships."

"Quite simple," Captain Landers spoke looking at Emissary Osiris who gave him a slight nod. "We have special sensor buoys scattered between Terra and back toward New Kobol. These buoys can detect the signature of an FTL jump."

"You can detect an FTL jump and communicate with these buoys," Dr. Carthews interjected with surprise on his face. "That would imply that you have a more efficient method of subspace communications then we do in order to receive the data in real time."

"Yes," Captain Landers replied, nodding his head and leaning back slightly in his chair. "We can communicate over a number of light years between ships, and the buoys can send out a brief highly directional signal. Once that signal has been sent, it takes the buoys several hours to rebuild their power reserves before they can transmit again. Don't your own people have subspace communication? We know that you have been using it in communicating with your ships in the system."

"It's highly inefficient," Jason replied. "The power required is so high that subspace communication between the Twelve Colonies and our major bases is feasible but it is used very seldom between warships."

"I see," specialist Denise Anthon commented thoughtfully. "We had the same problems in our early years. It has only been since we arrived at Terra that we have been able to solve the power problems."

"What about your own history and why have you come to this quadrant of space?" Emissary Osiris asked. "Our government is quite interested to know why you have traveled so far from your homes."

Jason took a deep breath as the other Colonials were all looking at him.

"That is a rather long and lengthy story."

"We would like to hear it," Emissary Osiris stated curiously. "It will tell us a lot as to where we need to go from here."

"Very well," Jason replied. Getting up he walked over to the small table that contained a number of glasses as well as fresh drinking water. Filling a glass from clear glass pitcher, he took a long drink and then walked back to the table. "It all began over forty years ago when we created a race of work robots called Cylons."

Two hours later Jason finished his long intricate explanation, he had been interrupted numerous times and asked more detailed questions by the Kobolan delegation. He looked around at the group wondering just what they were thinking. He had described life in the Twelve Colonies in detail, and the Cylon war of forty years ago. Dr. Carthews and Dr. Graystone had helped fill in some of the blanks.

Finally Emissary Osiris spoke. "Many years ago on New Kobol we experimented with intelligent AIs ourselves. After several disastrous failures, which resulted in the destruction of the AIs and several of the scientists involved all AI research was banned. We have highly developed computers but none are allowed to exist with a trace of cognitive ability."

"Our own computer technology became very primitive after the Cylon war," Dr. Graystone spoke. "It has only been very recently that we have begun putting more powerful computer systems back on board our ships."

"I can completely understand," specialist Anthon replied. "After your people's experience with the Cylons any type of computer system would be suspect."

"We need to contact Terra and report our findings," Emissary Osiris spoke standing up. "Once I have spoken to our government we can meet again."

"I am curious about one other thing," Administrator Kargan began as everyone stood up. "Why did you place all these sensor buoys between Terra and the Ovions? We know from what we found on New Kobol that they hardly ever venture out from their home system. There is almost no possibility of them ever coming this far from their home world."

"I wish that were true," Emissary Osiris said with a frown. "What you do not know is that within fifty to seventy five years the Ovions will deplete the massive Tylium reserves that their planet and orbiting moon were blessed with. Once those reserves are gone they will have to find more, when that day comes the Ovions will begin exploring. With the amount of Tylium their civilization is dependent upon, they will need to find very large sources. None of the size they need exist between them and us, at least none we are aware of. When that day finally arrives there is a very good possibility they might come here!"

Jason stood in the port-landing bay watching the techs, knuckle draggers, and pilots check out the vipers. To him, their jobs were just as important as his was. He sighed slightly, missing his days as a viper pilot. Everything seemed more carefree and less complicated back then.

"You look deep in thought sir," Major Dyson spoke from his side. The two had been making a routine inspection of the Titania.

"A lot has happened in the last day Carolyn," Jason replied choosing to use the Major's first name since no one could hear them. "If we can come to some type of agreement with the Kobolans, just imagine what that would mean for our future here in the Delphi quadrant!"

"If they will share their technology with us it will give us a decisive edge over the Cylons," Carolyn replied realizing the possibilities. It could give them such an advantage the Cylons would never dare to attack the Colonies again.

Across the bay, several techs were disassembling part of a viper engine. They were replacing several electronic parts that had tested as questionable. It was better to replace the parts now then have the parts fail during combat. The pilot, whose viper was being worked on, watched the techs closely asking questions.

Jason was pleased to see that so many of the pilots were now taking such personal concern for their vipers. "Emissary Osiris and Professor Clarion wish to tour our two new cities tomorrow," Jason commented as he saw Lt. Ashton enter the bay. She too went over to her viper and began a quick inspection. He saw Captain Steele over on the far side of the bay talking to several pilots and gesturing as if he was tying to explain something important to them. Doubtlessly some combat technique he was trying to impress upon the young pilots.

"Our crew has really come together," Carolyn stated with a slight pleased smile.

"Yes they have," Jason replied nodding in agreement. "It reminds me a lot of our crew back on the Ajait." In some ways, he missed his old Gunstar, perhaps because it had been his first command. Now the Titania was his new home. "If things go well tomorrow I hope we will be allowed to visit Terra. The Kobolans are learning a lot about us, but only by going to Terra will we be able to learn everything we need to know about them."

"Just imagine, a whole new colony from Kobol," Carolyn spoke almost softly. "All thirteen tribes will be there. I wonder what it will be like?"

"Hopefully we will find out shortly," Jason replied. "Let's head to main engineering, I want to check and see how the FTL recalibration is going."

Two days later Jason and Colony Administrator Kargan met with Emissary Osiris in the main conference room of the Titania. Emissary Osiris had requested this meeting indicating he had something of importance he wanted to discuss with the Colonials.

"I really enjoyed our trip down to the surface," Emissary Osiris began. "Your cities will be truly beautiful and have been well thought out. They will be wonderful places to live when they are completed. The planet is splendid, much like Terra. It will make a good colony!"

"Thank you," Administrator Kargan replied pleased that Emissary Osiris had been impressed with their colony. "We put a lot of planning into the cities."

"Your work robots are remarkable," Emissary Osiris continued. "We never developed such. After our first disastrous experimentations with AIs, we abandoned most research into such robots as you are using. We have work robots of course, but nothing as complex as yours. I can see where they could be quite useful."

"We would be quite willing to share that technology with you," Jason spoke. "The work robots can do a lot of jobs that might be dangerous for humans."

"Yes I can see that," Emissary Osiris replied. "A sharing of technologies might be very beneficial to both of our colonies."

"Have you spoken to your superiors?" Administrator Kargan asked.

"Yes, I have," Emissary Osiris replied. "They have decided to allow you to visit Terra, at Terra we can decide how our two colonies can best help each other and what technologies can be shared."

Jason smiled a relieved look at Administrator Kargan, they had not been sure whether the Kobolans would be willing to reveal their colonies location. This amount of trust indicated a positive outlook for future negotiations.

"Thank you," Administrator Kargan replied. "We will choose our delegation and will be ready to depart whenever you are ready. This is such a matter of importance between our two colonies that I don't want to put it off."

"Nor do we," Emissary Osiris replied nodding his head. "Our government is both excited and tremendously interested in learning more about our fellow Kobolans from the Twelve Colonies. One more question, you have not yet named your colony, why is that?"

"We have kicked around several names," Administrator Kargan replied. "I think the general consensus is going to be Demeter."

"The ancient Kobolan God of agricultural and farming," Emissary Osiris replied pleased with the choice. "That will be a good name."

Four days later, the Titania and the Exploration ship Explorer escorted by the Kobolan battle cruiser Zeus entered the Kobolan system. Jason had been surprised to learn that Terra was only twenty-seven light years away from their own new colony.

"Astrometrics scans initiating," Lt. Grimm reported from her consul, where she and her two assistants were busy reading and evaluating the data coming across their screens.

"We have numerous Dradis contacts," Lt. Emerson reported as his Dradis screens cleared and began showing contacts.

"That will be part of our fleet," Emissary Osiris commented, from where he stood at the operations table next to Jason and Administrator Kargan. "We maintain a large fleet in case the Ovions make an appearance. They have been told to expect our arrival."

On the main view screen, several Kobolan battle cruisers came into view. Both were heavily armed and similar to the Zeus. The two battle cruisers fell into formation with the two Colonial ships and the Zeus.

"Our escort," Emissary Osiris explained. "They will escort us into orbit over Terra and then return to their patrol duties."

"I have what appear to be eight Kobolan battle cruisers and fourteen support ships on the Dradis," Lt. Emerson reported reading the data from his Dradis consul. For once, the contacts didn't worry him.

A few minutes later Lt. Grimm made her report. "Sir we show fourteen planets in the system. Two of the plants are in the liquid water zone. There are several large gas giants as well as a number of asteroid fields."

"Two planets in the liquid water zone? Administrator Kargan asked looking inquiringly at Emissary Osiris.

Emissary Osiris smiled. "Yes, there are two. Terra is the closest to the sun and is ideal for human habitation, the second planet Klovia is colder and only the equator of the planet is habitable. Nearly sixty percent of the planet is unsafe for humans without some type of protection due to the cold and high winds. Only fifteen percent of the planet is considered prime real estate where the climate and temperature is similar to Terra's."

"Are there people living on Klovia?" Major Dyson asked from across the operations table where she had been listening.

"Several million," Emissary Osiris replied. "Many of those are involved in mining operations. The planet is rich in natural resources."

Several hours later, the ships went into orbit around the planet Terra. On the main view screen the planet greatly resembled Caprica and the planet the Colonials had just settled. The planet was orbited by two small moons. Jason listened to the reports from Lt. Emerson as to what was in orbit. Numerous defense satellites and other orbital installations covered the Dradis. Emissary Osiris tried to explain what many of the installations were; a few he said would have to be explained by his superiors. What most impressed Jason was the huge orbital shipyard that was now beginning to appear on the screen. It was probably ten kilometers across and numerous ships could be seen both docked to it and going down to the planet.

"My friends I want to welcome you to Terra," Emissary Osiris stated with a huge smile. "The Thirteen Tribes of Kobol welcome their brothers from the Twelve Worlds to our world!"

On the main view screen, which had switched back to show Terra, a gem of a planet now covered the screen, with the greens, browns, and blues associated with a highly habitable world. Fluffy white clouds floated in the atmosphere reminding Jason of Caprica. Below, numerous cities could be seen. Several large blue oceans were also visible. This should be interesting, Jason thought. Admiral Corman and Admiral Nagala could never have imagined this when they sent the Titania and her fleet to the Delphi quadrant. The future looked very promising for the Colonials as well as for their new friends from Terra.

**Terra**

Population: 416 million

Capitol City: Terrania Population 4 Million

Government: President elected by the people. President then nominates his choices for his cabinet and other high level positions. All have to be approved by the planetary senate, which is also elected by the people. There is a special council called the Quorum of Thirteen, which is composed of one member of each of the Thirteen tribes. This is a hereditary position and these council members are called Seal Holders. This council has the authority to remove a president or any member of his cabinet from power if the council feels that individual has overstepped his authority or abused his position. To remove a President ten council members must be in agreement. In such a rare case, the Quorum chooses a new President from the senate to finish out the current President's term. A seventy percent vote of the Senate can over rule any decision of the Quorum. For the most part the Quorum acts as an advisory body to the President.


	7. Chapter 7

**Negotiations and Alliance, Terra and Demeter**

Admiral Jason Stone set in a large conference room in the Quorum building in the Capitol city of Terrania on Terra. In high orbit, the Titania and the Explorer slowly circled the planet. Colony Administrator Andrew Kargan was busily examining a large sheaf of papers making sure he and his assistants had not made any mistakes in the important document before him. Dr. Sylvia Graystone stood next to a large window looking out over the bustling city. The city was laid out in huge squares with massive parks, roadways, and tall skyscrapers everywhere. It was a busy metropolis, for it was the Capitol of this world. For two months, the three had been involved in very intense and complicated negotiations with the Kobolans. Today they would finally meet with the prestigious Quorum of Thirteen, who were the direct advisors to the President of Terra.

Jason shifted in his chair thinking about all they had been through the last several months. Four times since they had arrived, one of the two colonial ships had been allowed to return to Demeter to report and to check upon the progress of the fledgling colony. All four times the Zeus had escorted them. It wasn't because the Kobolans didn't trust the Colonials, they were just being cautious.

A number of times they had been summoned to private meetings with the Terran President. They had answered questions and tried to explain the danger the Cylons might someday represent to Terra. When they had brought up the Cylons, a number of scientists and military advisors had been brought in. They had grilled the Colonials for many long hours on the Cylon's capabilities and the Cylon war of forty years ago. In the end, a number of the scientists and military people had traveled to the Titania to view all the data on the Cylons in the ship's computer records. Jason knew that Lt. Grimm and Major Dyson had been hard pressed to find all the information the scientists and military people wanted in the Titania's historical computer achieves.

They had also met with numerous other members of the Terran Senate, as well as historians, various planetary scientists, and even a few news reporters. News of the Twelve Colonies existence had swept across Terra, and its people were hugely curious about their newfound cousins. With all the meetings and attempts to formalize a tentative treaty mutually beneficial to both sides, it had been a very grueling and hectic two months.

Jason was interrupted in his thoughts as Emissary Osiris entered the large conference room with a genuine smile on his face. "Good morning," he said cheerfully walking over to the chair he normally occupied. "Today should be a big day and I think we will finally achieve what we all set out to do several months ago."

"I hope so," Administrator Kargan spoke, feeling tired from all the hours he and his team on the Explorer had put in trying to bring this Alliance to fruition. They had shirked their duties back on Demeter but their subordinates were doing a fine job filling in. After all, this agreement with the Kobolans was extremely important, especially with all it could mean to the Twelve Colonies and Demeter.

"Do you think they will agree to all our requests?" Dr. Graystone asked walking back from the window to stand behind her chair; feeling excited at all the ramifications. There were so many things the Kobolans were able to do with their advanced science that could empirically affect research in the Colonies. They could literally skip over decades of painstaking research in some areas.

"Most of them, I'm sure," Emissary Osiris replied nodding his head slowly. He liked these Colonials, they seemed to be fine honest people, at least the ones he had met. "They may have a few questions on some of the finer points of the treaty, but I am sure we can satisfy those."

At that moment, the large doors that led to the Quorum chamber opened and the thirteen Seal Holders filed into the room. There were eight men and five women, all seemed to be middle aged or older, but they carried themselves with an aura of mystique, power, and sophistication. It was almost as if royalty had entered the room. Jason and the other Colonials stood and waited respectfully as the thirteen Quorum members took their seats at the large conference table.

A tall gray headed man took the chair at the head of the table and with a nod, they all sat down. "I am Councilor Andal Shalton of the third tribe of man which in your Colonies would be called Capricorn or Caprica."

An aide entered the room and set before each of the Quorum members a copy of the proposed treaty. Each Quorum member had already examined it closely and their aids had been used to ask many questions of the Colonials. They had also asked questions to the historians and scientists who had studied the Colonials computer records and their ships.

"We have studied this treaty in detail, and as you all know we have each made many revisions over the last several months," he began looking at each member of the Quorum as well as the Colonials. "It is never easy to complete such a document as this in the type of situation we now find ourselves. Your government back in the Colonies, which is based on the Articles of Colonization, seems to be acceptable. While our world is ahead of your worlds in many ways, there is a multitude of areas that trade between our two branches of Kobol could be very beneficial."

Another Quorum member next to Councilor Shalton nodded in agreement and then stood up. "I am Councilor Anise Aires she said smiling at the Colonials. I am from the fifth tribe or Aquaria as it is called in your Colonies. While it is true that in many disciplines our science is ahead of your worlds, there are also areas of study that you have outreached us."

"How so Councilor Aires?" Administrator Kargan spoke slightly surprised. He could not imagine them being ahead of the Kobolans in anything, not after all he had observed on this planet. They had been shown all around Terra. They had seen the magnificent cities, their automated industries, and their highly sophisticated agricultural system among many other breath taking wonders.

"Your work robots for instance," she replied. "While it is true that our medical science, our power systems, and even our ships are far ahead of yours, your work robots are far in advance of anything we have tried."

"I understand it was your failed attempts at creating an AI that caused this," Dr. Graystone spoke looking inquiringly at the Councilor. She had been questioned very deeply by several Kobolan scientists about this area. How the Colonies had constructed such advanced machines as the construction robots but avoided the complications of sentience.

"That is true," Councilor Aires replied with a small nod. "We have robots but they are very simple. There are a number of other items we would be highly interested in. Your methods of mining asteroids and small moons have some advances we are not familiar with. There are many more. It is true that we have advanced in many areas that are far in advance of what your Colonies have. But due to the sheer size of your Colonies, over fifty billion people, you have developed some areas of advancement that we have not. Part of this of course is due to your conflict with the Cylons."

"So many different fields of research," Dr. Graystone commented nodding in understanding. She had visited several of the power plants on Terra, they were truly impressive. A single Terran power plant could generate enough power to supply the needs of one quarter of the cities on Caprica. They were Tylium based, but their use of Tylium in a purer form was so more efficient then what the Colonies possessed.

"Then we are in agreement that the treaty should be ratified?" Emissary Osiris asked pleased with the way everything was going.

Councilor Shalton looked down at the far end of the table where another woman delegate slowly rose to her feet.

"Not quite," she spoke slowly looking at Councilor Shalton. "I am Councilor Lillian Matuse of the eighth tribe of Kobol or as you would call us Taurus. The problem is the Cylons and the Ovions. If we begin regular trade with the Colonies, it will only be a matter of time before the Cylons locate Terra. It is the same with the Ovions. After your contact with them, they will be on the watch for strange ships. Trade between our two civilizations would make it easy for them to eventually trace our freighters back to our home systems."

"Then what do you propose Councilor Matuse?" Emissary Osiris asked perplexed. He had thought that everything was worked out. He had failed to take fully into account the possibility of the Cylons or the Ovions locating their worlds.

"It's very simple," she replied her gaze shifting to the Emissary and then to Jason. "Admiral Stone, from my understanding it is still slightly more then a year and three months before you are expected back at the Colonies, is that not correct?"

"Yes Councilor," Jason replied wondering where this was leading. He had a bad feeling about this. He really wanted to send word back to the Colonies about the Kobolans and to warn them about the Ovions.

"What I and several other of my fellow Councilors would like to propose is this. That you do not send word back to the Colonies of your finding Terra," she began her eyes focusing unwaveringly on his. "What we would like to propose instead, is that we take the Titania and place her in one of our shipyards and give her a full refit up to current Kobolan standards."

"What!" Jason blurted surprised blinking his eyes. "Why?" He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"We will fully refit the Titania. We understand that you have the specs for most of your Battlestars in restricted files on your main computer system," she continued unabashed.

"Yes," Jason replied not sure why she was asking about the specs.

"If you will release those specs to us we will redesign those ships to current Kobolan standards," Councilor Matuse said looking at the Colonials. "We will turn those designs over to you. We will also give you the designs and specs for the advanced equipment your people will need to update your entire fleet. We are also willing to send Kobolan specialists to the Twelve Colonies to help with any design problems and the refit."

"I don't understand," Dr. Graystone spoke confused looking at the different Councilors. "Why do all this?"

"Very simple," Councilor Matuse said carefully. "Once your Battlestars and Gunstars have been brought up to Kobolan standards, the Cylons will not be a problem, nor will the Ovions," she added.

"That's why, it's the Ovions!" Jason said with sudden realization his eyes widening. "We have a very large fleet back at the Colonies, over three hundred warships total. One hundred and twenty of them are first line capitol ships. If our ships are refitted to your standards then we could handle the Ovions if they ever attacked either one of us."

"Exactly," Councilor Matuse replied with a satisfied and determined look on her face. "With our own fleet as well as yours, we might be able to convince the Ovions of the foolishness in attacking either one of us. They might be willing to search for their Tylium outside our areas of influence and leave both of us alone."

"If not then our two fleets combined could probably wipe the Ovions out," Jason replied realizing the craftiness behind her plan. It almost assured the Kobolans of eventual peace, with the Ovions neutralized or destroyed.

"We do what we have to in order to survive," Councilwoman Matuse replied.

"How long will this refit of the Titania take?" Jason asked wondering how much longer it would be before they could send word back to the Colonies of their discoveries. It might not be possible to meet their original return date.

"It will take nearly six months to refit the Titania and at least that long or longer to finish the redesigns for your ships," Councilor Shalton spoke. "The Senate will have to ratify the treaty and then the President will sign it. That will take a while. I believe that if we all work hard you can still return to the Colonies on your original return date."

"Over a year from now," Jason spoke.

"During that time we will be glad to send as much assistance as you require to help complete your colony on Demeter," Councilwoman Aires spoke. "We are willing to install a Kobolan defense grid around your world as well as make many of our technical advancements available to your people. Our power systems and medical science for example."

Jason, Emissary Osiris, and Administrator Kargan only stared mutely at each other. They knew they really had no choice, the Kobolan Quorum held all the cards. What ever they recommended, the Senate and the President would probably follow. At least they had offered to furnish help in finishing the colony.

Without the specs and designs of the Kobolans, it would take years to upgrade the ships of the Twelve Worlds. This way the Titania would return fully upgraded where techs could use her as an example to upgrade the other Colonial warships. Jason realized that this might be the fastest and best way to get Kobolan technology back to the Colonies.

With sudden dawning realization, he realized that if everything worked out, they had just solved the Cylon problem. With Kobolan technology, the Colonials would be so far ahead of the Cylons that any threat of attack would vanish instantly. Once the Kobolan upgrades were in place, the Colonies could send a fleet across the Red Line and demand the Cylons sign a permanent peace treaty. They could also be forced to allow routine inspections of their worlds. While the Cylons would not enjoy this, being intelligent AIs they would see the logic behind a permanent peace treaty and the inspections. This would solve the Cylon problem for quite some time.

Jason nodded his acceptance to Administrator Kargan.

"Very well, we agree," Administrator Kargan spoke eyeing the document before him, which would have to be modified one more time. "We will have our subordinates get together and iron out the final details."

The Quorum members looked at each other and nodded, even Emissary Osiris seemed to agree with these stipulations. "Then it is agreed," Councilor Shalton spoke. "I believe this is in the best interest of both of our peoples."

Four months later Lts. Everson, Johnson, Ashton, and Grimm were in the large viewing lounge aboard the massive shipyard Terra's Dream. The four were taking a break from all the intense work being done on the Titania.

Science specialist Denise Anthon saw the four and made her way through the small afternoon crowd to the table the four were sitting at. Over the past four months, the five of them had become very good friends. "Hi," she spoke with a smile, taking an empty seat between Susan and Emily. "How are my four favorite Colonials doing today?"

"I still have a headache from my subspace math class," Cynthia groaned rubbing her forehead suggestively. "I didn't know when we agreed to refit the Titania to Kobolan standards I would have to go back to school again!"

The group laughed and Denise replied, "It's something we all have to go through. "I'm taking history lessons on the Twelve Colonies as well as learning how your robots work. I guess we all have a lot to learn."

The five ordered drinks and sat just enjoying the relaxing atmosphere in the lounge as well as the magnificent view of Terra. A massive viewing window made of peraflex glass lined the lounge allowing an unobstructed view of Terra far below.

"I guess we get to spend some time on the Zeus beginning next week," Susan commented sipping her drink slowly. It tasted delicious, slightly alcoholic but mixed with some fruits she was not familiar with.

"Yes," Denise said smiling. "All of you have been involved in installing the new equipment. We thought it would be good for you to experience it first hand on one of our front line warships. Nothing like hands on experience."

"I understand that Major Dyson will be along as well," Emily said stirring her drink gently with a small straw, watching what looked like a cherry floating on the top. "She has really been pushing us to get the refit completed."

"I was really surprised to find out just how large a fleet you posses," Karl spoke. "I figured after so many years of peace that your fleet would be much smaller."

"It's the Ovions," Denise replied taking a small sip of her drink. "I guess after what happened on New Kobol we have always been partly paranoid about them. That's why we developed the FTL detection buoys, our stealth fields, and many of our modern weapons."

"Twenty two battle cruisers and forty escort ships," Karl commented. "For just one small system that's one frak of a fleet!"

"But just think of the upgrades the Titania is being equipped with Karl," Susan spoke. "Our upgraded armor is nearly three times better then our old, we are getting new fusion energizers based on Kobolan specs which will allow us to operate a force shield around the ship, as well as defensive lasers."

"Why not heavy lasers?" Emily asked taking another small drink and biting into what she thought was a cherry. Sure enough, it tasted just like a cherry from back home.

"They would not be effective against capitol ships equipped with heavy armor." Denise replied patiently. "It would take too long to burn a hole through. But for fighters and missiles, with lighter shielding, the defensive lasers will work just fine."

"I understand we are even upgrading our KEW batteries," Cynthia spoke.

"Yes," Karl replied, he had been involved with this because the weapon systems were partially connected to the Dradis system for targeting data. "The Titania currently launches a KEW projectile at five percent light speed which causes a lot of damage when it strikes a target. With the new upgrades, we are firing the projectiles at nearly twelve percent light speed. The damage potential goes way up; nearly three times what our old batteries were capable of inflicting."

The five continued to talk for quite some time, then Emily, Susan, and Denise left to return to their duties. Cynthia and Karl stayed behind enjoying the alone time. Over the past months, they had grown quite close. While regulations normally prohibited officers from dating each other, on deep space missions they were more tolerant. While it was still frowned upon, it was not prohibited.

Three months later, Jason was in the CIC of the newly refitted Titania. The refit had taken one month longer then expected due to the complexity of modifying Colonial systems to function with the Kobolan ones. The new Titania hosted two new Tylium energizers each 40 percent more powerful then the ones they had replaced. Twenty defensive twin laser turrets circled her hull, tied to a defensive targeting computer system much more efficient then their old one. The lasers could fire once every five seconds, but due to their advanced targeting system, they very seldom missed.

All the KEW batteries had been rebuilt with Kobolan materials and could now accelerate a KEW round at twelve percent of light. The ship's drive system had been modified and the Titania could now accelerate twenty-two percent faster then before. They had also installed the capability to ripple fire their missiles. They could launch a missile from a missile tube every five seconds or until the missile magazine was empty. But more importantly, they had installed energy shields along with the new armor. Science specialist Anthon had assured Jason that the shields could absorb a heavy nuclear strike without any risk to the ship's armor. It was only when the shields were impacted by multiple nuclear impacts that there could be a significant danger to the ship.

"Major Dyson take her out of drydock," Jason ordered as the crew waited expectantly. For months many of them had been serving on Kobolan ships familiarizing themselves with the new systems. Jason had even spent a full month on board the Zeus with Captain Landers.

"Helm control activate station keeping thrusters and back us out," she commanded. "Ten percent thrust on forward thrusters, maintain equal spacing with surrounding drydock as she moves out."

On the main view screen, Jason could see them begin to pull away from the massive shipyard. In moments, the Titania exited the drydock and the entire station came into view on the view screen.

"Set course for Klovia, acceleration twenty percent on the sublight engines," Jason ordered. This would be their shakedown cruise to try out the Titania's new systems. He knew that the Zeus would be paralleling their course in case something went wrong.

The Titania accelerated away from the shipyard smoothly and set course for Klovia, which was currently one hundred and twelve million kilometers away. The Zeus fell into course along side.

After an hour Jason felt satisfied that everything was functioning smoothly, the new systems and enhanced Dradis seemed to be working flawlessly. "Sublight engines to forty percent," Jason ordered. "Pass the increased speed to the Zeus."

The two ships seemed to accelerate rapidly and the kilometers began to fall behind them rapidly. They were now traveling at nearly five percent of the speed of light.

Three hours later the two ships went into high orbit around Klovia. The desert red planet, with a narrow strip of green around the equator, was centered on the Titania's main view screen. Jason knew that only the narrow green strip was inhabited.

Jason was pleased with the speed the Titania had made; if they were still in the Colonies, they would have set a speed record for a warship. Most of the time warships traveled at about two percent light speed in order to conserve fuel. While much higher speeds were attainable, they were only used for short bursts.

"Sir I have Captain Landers on the com," Lt. Johnson reported. "He recommends we move out to one of the asteroid fields and try out the Titania's new weapons systems."

"Inform Captain Landers that I concur," Jason replied looking across the CIC. Everyone seemed to be adapting well to the new systems. Almost every consul and station had been modified in some way. Even the computers had been upgraded slightly. Looking down at the operations table, which showed the Terran system, he pointed to a spot in the asteroid field away from current mining operations, and one where the Kobolans routinely ran weapons tests. "Grid coordinates Alpha 14, Sigma 8.7 as we agreed on earlier. We will set ten percent sublight acceleration. That will give us time to check out more of our new systems on the way."

Lt. Johnson passed on the information, "Captain Landers agrees."

For fourteen hours, the two ships cruised quickly toward the intended asteroid field. Upon arriving, Jason entered the CIC eager to try out the Titania's new weapons systems. He and most of the command crew had managed to sneak in a few hours of rest before they arrived.

A rather large asteroid nearly two kilometers in diameter was centered on the main view screen. The Zeus was slightly behind the Titania at a safe distance.

"Captain Edison, fire all four bow KEW batteries one at a time," Jason ordered, he was curious to see the effect of the increased speed of the projectiles. "Once we see the effect our rounds have on the asteroid we will fire a barrage of four rounds simultaneously from all four KEW batteries. Follow up rounds at five second intervals until I say stop."

"Yes sir," Captain Edison replied. He turned to the two Lts. sitting next to him as they quickly set up the weapons test.

"Inform the Zeus we are about to begin weapons tests," Jason ordered Lt. Johnson, who quickly complied.

"Bow KEW batteries ready sir," Captain Edison reported.

"Very well, initiate fire," Jason commanded his eyes focused on the view screen.

Everyone in the CIC looked towards the main view screen. The ship seemed to shudder slightly as the heavy rounds left the ship. On the view screen, the asteroid seemed to shudder as huge explosions dug into its surface sending debris kilometers into space. Then all four KEW batteries fired, the asteroid was pummeled as the rounds penetrated nearly to its center and the next four cleaved the asteroid into.

"Cease fire," Jason ordered surprised at the destruction the KEW rounds had inflicted on the asteroid.

For then next several hours the Titania tried out all of her weapons systems, including the defensive lasers. Jason was quite pleased as he watched the lasers blast numerous small asteroids to pieces rendering them harmless. Yes, when they returned to the Colonies, Admirals Corman and Nagala were going to be quite pleased with what he was bringing them.

One month later, the Titania was once more in orbit around Demeter, but a very changed Demeter. In orbit with the Titania were four Kobolan battle cruisers and six of their escort ships along with the Colonial colonization fleet. Over twenty Kobolan freighters were also in orbit bringing more supplies and technicians to the planet.

What really pleased Jason was the fact that the Defiant was floating below them fully repaired and back in operation. With the Kobolans help, the large fleet base was now fully completed. Instead of two construction bays, it possessed four thanks to the Kobolan engineers who had helped to complete the shipyard. There were also plans to expand the fleet base to accommodate civilian ships as well as military at eight planned docking bays.

"How many defensive platforms are completed?" Jason asked Captain Landers who was standing next to him watching the main view screen.

"Forty eight of the laser platforms," Captain Landers replied. "Each platform has two defensive twin laser turrets. The plans call for two hundred and twenty of them as an inner defense. Your own missile defense satellites will make up the outer defense ring. From what I understand the plans are to construct one hundred and eighteen of the one hundred meter satellites."

"When those defenses are complete it should protect the planet from any conceivable missile attack," Major Dyson spoke pleased with what she had seen of the defensive plans. She also knew that the final plan called for twenty four three hundred meter satellites armed with Hades nuclear missiles with Kobolan acceleration boosters attached. This would give them the capability to take out any enemy capital ships that ventured to close to the planet.

"Terra is making a very heavy investment in our colony," Jason commented thinking about all the costs involved. Back in the Colonies, this type of investment would cost well over a trillion cubits.

"Our government feels it will be worth it in the long run," Captain Landers replied looking at Jason. "Our two civilizations combined in an Alliance, will keep our people safe from both the Cylons and the Ovions, which alone warrants the expenditures."

"I looked over the spec changes to the Battlestar designs Admiral," Major Dyson said. "A single refitted Mercury class Battlestar will have the firepower of an entire battle group!"

Science specialist Anthon walked over from where she had been assisting Lt. Grimm at her computer station to stand beside Captain Landers. "Don't forget, there are many things in your science and culture that we are interested in. Given time, your people and ours will grow and settle many other worlds here in the Delphi quadrant."

Several hours later Jason met with Captain Steele to discuss orbital patrols for the planet as well as viper squadrons for the new fleet base.

"Captain Steele, from the looks of things everyone has been very busy while we have been gone to Terra," Jason began.

"Yes sir," Captain Steele replied. "I have already talked to Major Styller about basing several squadrons of vipers on the fleet base. All we need to do is add a launching platform or bay to handle the launches and landings."

"I'm sure we can get our engineers and the Kobolan engineers to design something suitable," Jason replied thinking about what he would like to see done. "We already plan on arming the fleet base very heavily; it will definitely need vipers to complete its offensive and defensive capability. We should also see about stationing a squadron of combat raptors on the station as well."

"Yes sir," Captain Steele replied. He had been thinking along the same lines. "The fleet base will be ready to begin viper production in another month and raptors two months after that."

"That's good news," Jason replied pleased that they would be ready to begin producing the new vipers and raptors so soon. They would also need to train some additional pilots. They would ask for volunteers from their own military forces as well as from the civilian crews on the rest of the Colony fleet. He would have Captain Steele take care of that.

Four hours later Captain Steele and Lt. Ashton were flying in their vipers above Demeter looking in awe at all the work that had been done in orbit. The four orbital automated factories were finished. The fleet base looked huge compared to how it had looked when they had left. They knew that when the expansion to the fleet base was complete, it would be nearly double its current size with a crew of over twenty five hundred.

"I can't believe everything that has happened Aaron," Emily spoke on their private com channel. "We came all this way to the Delta quadrant to find more humans. Our colony is going to be so much more then what we imagined."

"I know, it's unbelievable," Aaron relied as they banked their vipers in a lazy arc around the fleet base, which was lit up by brilliant work lights. The structure was centered around the old Crescent's CIC and the levels of the ship that had surrounded the CIC. Aaron knew that four construction bays capable of producing anything up to and including a Jupiter class Battlestar were completed. They were also adding eight docking bays for civilian ships as well as military ships. There would be quarters for nearly four thousand people. Plans even called for an eventual food court as well as a shopping area for people coming and going on their various ships. It would be very similar to some of the fleet bases and shipyards back at the Colonies.

Emily looked at the fleet base as they passed close to it seeing a number of the spider like construction robots busy working on the fleet base's structure. There were a number of heavy construction raptors moving large beams and pieces of steel lattice work hovering about different work sites. She shuddered slightly. The work robots just reminded her to much of spiders, and she didn't like spiders!

Down on the planet Lt. Everson and Lt. Johnson were walking with Dr. Graystone down the main shopping area of Paradeen. They looked in amazement at all the completed buildings, some of them reaching nearly twenty stories into the air.

"Wow!" Cynthia spoke looking wide eyed at everything around her. "I can't believe that both cities are done. It looks just like back home, except everything is cleaner and newer."

"Not only that but with the aid of the Kobolans we are going to continue to expand the cities to where they can hold over fifty thousand people," Sylvia said looking at the two Lts. She knew from the way they acted that they were becoming very close to each other. They didn't do a very good job of hiding their feelings. She smiled inwardly feeling that the two made a really nice couple, she hoped things would work out for them.

"Why fifty thousand?" Karl asked confused. "I thought the original plans called for only twenty five thousand, why so many more?"

"When word of the Kobolans reaches the Twelve Worlds you can rest assured that we will see a huge influx of colonists," Sylvia explained looking at a large shopping center that was advertising women's clothes. Only a few of the stores were actually open, and she was curious to see what was inside this one. Maybe later, before she retuned to her ship, she just might have to indulge in a little casual shopping. "We are already looking at four additional city sites and may even begin construction on them shortly."

You're right," Karl replied reaching out and taking Cynthia's hand as they continued to walk. "With Terra so close there will be a lot of people wanting to get away from some of the more crowded Colonies. It might be necessary for us to even limit who we accept as potential colonists."

"Can we do that?" Cynthia asked squeezing Karl's hand slightly. "I mean is it right for us to say who can come and who can't?"

"Probably not," Karl replied with slight look of concern. "But I imagine the government of the Twelve Worlds will be very careful who they send as colonists so as not to risk offending the Kobolans."

"Only time will tell," Sylvia stated as they turned a corner to find several restaurants that were open and serving customers, the smell of cooked food was tantalizing. "Let's get something to eat, I'm famished!"

Two weeks later Jason was summoned to the Zeus for a meeting with a Kobolan Admiral who had just arrived in the Demeter system. The Admiral's name was Crius, and he was one of only four Admirals in the Kobolan fleet.

Jason entered the small conference room where Science specialist Anthon, Captain Landers, and Admiral Crius were waiting. Jason saluted the Admiral who returned his salute and asked Jason to be seated.

"Admiral Stone," Admiral Crius began looking at Jason with a serious military face. "Two months ago we launched a secret surveillance mission to the New Kobol system."

"What," Jason uttered surprised his eyes looking sharply at the Kobolan Admiral. "Why, I didn't think you wanted to risk the Ovions detecting any more ships?"

"We thought we had to take the risk after what you told us," Admiral Crius replied meeting Jason's gaze. "We sent four specially equipped escorts on the mission. They were to search all of our former colony worlds for signs of the Ovions. The ships stayed in each of our former systems for two weeks monitoring the movements of Ovion ships."

"Then they did encounter the Ovions," Jason stated realizing the obvious. After the Ovions had encountered the Colonial colony fleet, it only made sense to step up their patrols of the old human worlds.

"Yes it would seem so," Admiral Crius responded. "In the two weeks our ships were in the systems, they detected no less then eighteen different patrols by Ovion warships. Several of these Ovion patrols were major fleet movements of thirty ships."

"They have increased the size of their reconnasaince fleets," Jason replied concerned. "Probably because of their encounter with our fleet."

"Yes," Admiral Crius replied nodding his head in agreement. "Once our ships had completed their mission in the old colonies they went on with their primary mission orders. They went to the Ovion's home system and spent a full week carefully scanning everything."

"A full week," Jason said surprised at the risk the Kobolans had taken. He knew their stealth fields were good, but he didn't know if they would be that effective against the Ovions. They had taken a huge risk staying in the system for a full week.

"We have the best scans of the Ovion system we have ever been able to get," Science specialist Anthon commented. "We have detailed scans of their ships, bases, orbital defenses, mining operations, and even the planet Carillon itself."

"But the risk you took," Jason spoke shaking his head. "What if the Ovions had detected one of your ships, it might have led them back here!"

"We took precautions to insure that could not happen," Admiral Crius spoke his eye widening slightly. "Each ship was equipped with a dead man's switch, which had to be pressed once every twenty minutes or the ship's energizers would overload and explode. These switches were deactivated after the four ships left the Ovion system."

"The scans are frightening," Captain Landers spoke; he had been stunned when he had first reviewed the data along with specialist Anthon. "The Ovion fleet in the Carillon system comprises of nearly five hundred ships. The majority of these warships are in the cruiser and dreadnaught category."

"That's a fraking lot of ships," Jason replied wondering if the Colonial fleet, even with the new Kobolan weapons, could stand up to that number of heavy warships."

"That's not the worst of it," Admiral Crius spoke with a heavy sigh. "Our ships recorded numerous small scouts leaving and arriving in the system. There is no doubt that they are engaged in exploration activities, probably searching for Tylium."

"Our ships laid FTL detection buoys in many of the surrounding systems and back to our two colonies," Captain Landers added.

"These buoys are heavily shielded," specialist Anthon continued. "We will send a battle cruiser into the area once a month to download the sensor readings, that way we can get an idea of just what the Ovions are up to and what directions their explorations are going. That is information you will want to take back with you to the Colonies."

"It might be necessary to increase the fortifications we have around our worlds," Admiral Crius said looking Jason in the eyes. "While we don't believe there is any immediate danger, it is only prudent that we prepare for the worst."

"Should the Titania leave for the Colonies sooner then planned?" Jason asked feeling concerned about the Ovion's movements.

"No, we want to gather as much data as we can on their exploration movements first," Admiral Crius said. "We also still need to complete all the design changes to the specs for the normal Gunstars used in the Colonial fleet.

"There is other information we are also sending back to your Colonies that is being prepared," specialist Anthon spoke her eyes meeting Jason's."

"We don't feel that leaving any earlier will help to decrease the danger from the Ovions," Admiral Crius added. "If we detect that they are exploring back towards the Colonies, then your departure date might indeed have to be moved up."

Two hours later, after studying some of the scans of the Carillon system, Jason returned to the Titania. There was no doubt in his mind that the Ovions would some day have to be dealt with if they were to stay safely in the Delta quadrant.

SIX MONTHS UNTIL THE FALL OF THE COLONIES!

**Kobolan Battle Cruiser**

Length 1,500 meters

Width 350 meters

Height 350 meters

6 Heavy KEW bow batteries

6 Bow missile tubes

16 Medium KEW twin turrets encircling the hull

24 Missile tubes on the hull. 12 on each side

32 Twin point defense turrets

24 Twin laser point defense turrets

16 Interceptor missile batteries

Energy shielding

Stealth shielding

Crew of 800

Marines 200

Kobolan Battle Cruisers are designed for three month to six month deployments. Unlike Colonial Battlestars which can go up to two years without resupply. Kobolan ships are also more automated requiring smaller crews.

**Kobolan Heavy Escort**

Length 600 meters

Width 175 meters

Height 175 meters

2 Heavy KEW bow batteries

2 Bow missile tubes

4 Medium twin KEW turrets. Two on the upper hull two on the lower hull

6 Missile tubes. Three on each side of the hull

12 Twin point defense turrets

8 Twin laser point defense turrets

4 Interceptor missile batteries

Energy shielding

Stealth shielding

Crew of 200

Marines 50

_Authors note: Now for the fun part. If you wanted action, it is coming very shortly. Originally, I was going to write two separate stories. Gunstar Titania and Operation Red Line. However, the stories are so closely connected that I have decided to combine the two. I think it works better this way. _

_When the Titania and her exploration fleet left the secret fleet base, there were four Valkyrie class Battlestars there. Operation Red Line deals with the mission those four ships are sent on, and will take us through the Fall of the Colonies. Operation Red Line is necessary to put in place the rest of the pieces for the conclusion of Gunstar Titania. I have named the fleet base Shadow base. Not real original, but I like it. Operation Red Line will comprise three chapters, two of which are already written, and then we will return to the Titania and her return to the Colonies. The Cylons and Ovions await!_

_One more item. Since the Kobolans have settled on Terra, they consider themselves both Terrans and Kobolans. Terrans due to the name of their new world, and Kobolans in memory of their history._


	8. Chapter 8

**Operation Red Line**

**186 days before the Fall.**

Admiral Robert Nagala sat at his desk in his private office aboard the Battlestar Atlantia. The Mercury class Battlestar was currently heading back to the main fleet base above Picon for a quick refit. He also wanted to meet with Admiral Corman about the upcoming Red Line mission. The rest of BSG 1, two Jupiter class Battlestars, two Valkyrie class Battlestars, and its four Gunstars were also due for system updates. They were installing the new Command Navigation Program created by Gaius Baltar.

He was currently studying a report on fleet assets being decommissioned and shipped to the boneyards for disassembly. The current report concerned one hundred and forty mark two vipers plus spare parts being transferred to the boneyards aboard two large fleet freighters for disposal. The fighters had been kept on board the Sagittarian shipyards for the past decade as a reserve force to be used in an emergency. With the advent of the mark seven vipers, that was no longer deemed necessary.

Admiral Nagala leaned back in his chair in deep concentration, a look of deep concern crossing his face. The Cylons were the main reason for his worry. For years now, very little useable information had come across the Red Line from Cylon controlled territory. Several senior fleet Admirals, including Admiral Corman at fleet headquarters, Admiral Clements at Caprica Station, and Admiral Kronus at Shadow fleet base shared that deep concern with him. As a result certain actions were about to be taken, which if they went wrong could send the Colonies back to war. Operation Red Line would be an attempt to get the answers they so desperately needed. Just what had the Cylons been up to these past 40 years behind the Red Line?

Dictating a quick memo, he changed the orders for the two fleet freighters, instead of delivering the vipers to the boneyards they would deliver them instead to the small fleet training base in the Caspian system. Once that memo was finished he transmitted it to the ensign that was responsible for making sure all of the Admiral's orders, or requests were taken care of. Then he sat back and took a little more time to write a letter of explanation to his daughter Andrea Nagala. She was the CEO of the Keller Mining Corporation and was presently running the families massive mining operation in the Caspian system.

Andrea Nagala looked out through the massive observation window in main operations, at the desolate landscape before her. Small asteroid craters, dark shadows, and a series of small hills lay before her. She was inside the main operations building of the Keller Mining Corporation on the asteroid Helos, in the Caspian star system, 27 light years from the Colonies.

The Caspian star system did not contain a single planet. Instead, it was orbited by the largest and densest asteroid field ever discovered by the Colonies. Andrea's mother's family had been responsible for that initial survey sixty years ago. They had staked claim to the unbelievably rich heavy metals and Tylium deposits that were abundant in the system.

Because of the size of the Keller Corporation and their political connections, the claim had been upheld in court. The Keller Corporation held all the mining rights to the system for another 40 years. The initial Colonial grant had been for 100 years.

Andrea's mother had married Robert Nagala right after graduating from the Mining Institute on Picon. She had met Nagala while he had been attending the fleet academy. A few years later Andrea was born. She was twelve years old when her mother was killed in a mining accident in the Caspian system. She died in a massive cave in at a new mining operation she was inspecting. Andrea was currently thirty-two years old and the CEO of her mother's company. The Keller mining corporation produced nearly twenty percent of the Colonies heavy metals and nearly thirty percent of the Colonies Tylium.

Andrea looked out at the desolate landscape of the asteroid Helos. The asteroid was nearly eight hundred kilometers long and six hundred in diameter. The main Keller mining base was located on the asteroid in a series of massive surface domes and extensive underground facilities. Nearly 140,000 people called Helos their home and another sixty thousand were scattered across the system at various mining sites and on board ships.

"A message from your father," Stephen Andorn spoke from behind her.

Turning her gaze Andrea looked at the tall dark headed man. "What does he want?"

Her father was now an Admiral and second in command of the entire Colonial fleet. He left the running of the Keller Corporation to Andrea, and although they were not as close as she would like, he did keep in regular contact with her.

"He is sending another batch of vipers and cadets to their training facility here on Helos," Stephen reported his eyes running over the small memo he held in his left hand. "He also sent a private message to you," Stephen handed her a folded sheet with her father's message.

"Very well," Andrea replied without looking down at the message. "Confirm receipt of the original message."

Opening the sheet of paper, she read her father's words carefully, especially when she realized what he was trying to tell her. This Cylon thing really has him worried she thought, as she reread the letter one more time. Her father was sending the extra vipers to the training base to give the mining operation better protection. The training base already had one hundred and twenty mark two vipers as well as a full squadron of mark sevens plus a squadron of raptors. The training base was also going to be expanded with enhanced defensive capabilities. She knew she would have to schedule a meeting with the base's commander Colonel Darien Marshall do see what he thought about all this.

Folding the paper carefully, she placed it inside of her pants pocket. She then walked through the large operations center until she came to one of the massive operations tables, which highlighted the current mining operations and the positions of all the ships in the Caspian system. Numerous Dradis buoys scattered throughout the Caspian system gave them real time information on ship movements between Helos and the massive asteroid field. There were four such tables in the operations center and four to six highly trained technicians staffed each. The operations tables seemed to be a jumble of lights, moving objects, and written notations scattered about various asteroids, mining operations, and ships.

"What's our current status Don?" she asked the slim blonde headed man who was her operations manager. He was currently leaning over the operations table making a notation by a small asteroid.

"We have a Tylium convoy scheduled to FTL out to the Colonies early tomorrow morning," he replied straightening up and looking at Andrea. "Two fleet Gunstars should arrive sometime tonight to act as their escorts."

Andrea was silent for a moment, with her father's words still haunting her. He had said in the letter that he feared the Cylons were planning something, just what he didn't know but that she should be extra vigilant. The Caspian system would be a tempting target. The Keller Corporations investments in the system were massive.

"How many ships do we have currently in the system?" she asked examining the table in more detail. Andrea knew that on most days there were a lot of ships arriving and leaving the system as well as the ones that were permanently stationed here.

"Nearly two hundred, counting our own," Don replied looking at Andrea questionably. "The Tylium convoy tomorrow will consist of fourteen ships and we have an additional twenty large freighters loaded with processed metals and ore leaving the next day. We have sixty of our own ships in the system, another fifty two that we have hired to run cargos in system and then all the freighters and tankers coming and going from the Colonies."

"Thanks Don, that's about what I thought," Andrea replied placing her hands on the operations table and reading some of the notations detailing the mining operations on several asteroids. "We have a large steel order for Tauron due next week, how are we coming on that?"

"No problem, we will be shipping it out of our reserves and we have started two new mining operations to replace what we are shipping out," he replied pointing to several locations on the operations table that had written notations by them.

Andrea spoke to Don for a few more minutes until she was satisfied that everything was proceeding smoothly. In such a large operation, there were always problems that popped up, sometimes daily!

The next afternoon Andrea took a small shuttle to the fleet training base on the far end of the Helos asteroid. As they flew rapidly over the desolate landscape covered in small and large craters, as well as jagged hills, and even a few small mountains, Andrea wondered just how serious this Cylon situation was.

When they landed, Andrea took a moment to examine the base. It was spread out over two kilometers of desolate rock and she knew there was much more underground. There were two long buildings nearly a kilometer each in length, these resembled flight pods from a Battlestar. Andrea knew that these were used to simulate real life training exercises with the young cadets. They were accessed from underground and vipers and raptors could be launched from their launching tubes as well as practice landings in the large landing bays.

Andrea felt the shuttle start to drop as the landing pad descended and she soon found herself in a well-lit underground hanger. Several shuttles and raptors sat over to one side close to the wall. As she left the shuttle she was surprised to see Colonel Marshall standing at the bottom of the shuttle's short ramp waiting expectantly for her.

"Hope you had a smooth flight," Colonel Marshall spoke with a slight smile on his face. They didn't get many visitors at the base. He knew that Andrea had come over due to the news from her father about the additional vipers.

"Very smooth, my pilot used to be in the Colonial fleet," Andrea replied reaching out and shaking the Colonel's hand.

"If you will come with me we can go to my office and talk in private," Colonel Marshall said gesturing toward an open hatch that led into a large corridor. "I believe we have a lot to discuss."

Several minutes later, the two were in a comfortable modern office sitting across from each other with the Colonel behind his large oak desk. Leaning back, he looked thoughtfully at the young dark haired woman before him. She had the backbone of her father, was highly intelligent, and she was surprisingly good looking.

"I assume your visit is in relation to the mark two vipers Admiral Nagala is sending us as well as the proposed base expansion," Colonel Marshal said.

"Yes Colonel," Andrea replied looking intently into the Colonel's eyes. Her father had told her long ago that she could trust Colonel Marshall completely. "I think my father is concerned about the Cylons, really concerned. If I didn't know better it would almost seem as if he is expecting an attack!"

"He may be correct," Colonel Marshal replied with a long sigh putting his right hand on his desk opening a report from Admiral Nagala that he had been studying just before Andrea's shuttle had arrived. "He has sent me several reports about picket units at the Red Line detecting large nuclear explosions on the Cylon's side. They have also detected vague Dradis contacts which seem to indicate that the Cylons have built new and bigger capital ships."

"Frak," Andrea replied closing her eyes briefly in thought. Even though she had graduated from the mining academy on Picon, her father had also insisted that she spend two years at the fleet academy. Then she had spent six months on a Gunstar as assistant communications officer learning the workings of the fleet.

"What precautions are you taking Colonel?" Andrea asked her mind covering the possibility of what a Cylon attack in the Caspian system would mean.

"We are expanding the base to accommodate the new vipers," Colonel Marshall replied looking at a series of detailed blue prints on the planning board on the right hand wall of his office. "There will be nearly four hundred cadet pilots assigned here at all times as well as sixty veteran pilots. Two Defender class Gunstars and one Assault Class will stay on station continuously, and we are installing twenty defensive turrets around the base as well as four medium range offensive turrets. We are also being assigned two hundred marines."

"Then there is our special fleet," Andrea added thinking about the four hidden warships that always stayed deep within the asteroid field where they could not be detected. Warships that her father had arranged for over her initial protests, now she was glad they were there.

"Yes," Colonel Marshall replied thinking about the added strength those ships added to the ones he already had. "There are those."

Admiral Nagala sat across the desk from Fleet Admiral Corman. They were in the Fleet Admiral's office in the massive underground fleet headquarters on Picon. They were alone in the room with strict instructions given to the two heavily armed marines outside the door that they were not to be disturbed.

"So all the trials are completed?" Admiral Corman asked taking a deep breath and looking across the desk at his old friend and confident.

"Yes," Admiral Nagala replied with a slight nod of his head. "For four months Admiral Reed's task group has been routinely penetrating Colonial defenses and scanning our bases and fleet assets. Not once has anyone detected what he has been doing. He even managed to get detailed scans of the fleet base here above Picon. Then the day before yesterday, he penetrated Caprica Station's defenses, he completed a full scan before moving back out of potential detection range."

Admiral Corman was quiet for several moments. "Robert if anyone finds out what we are about to do, we will both be court martialed and probably executed for treason!"

"What choice do we have?" Admiral Nagala replied frowning knowing full well the danger and repercussions of what they were about to do. "We must find out what the Cylons are up to. If we don't it could mean the end of everything."

"I know," Admiral Corman replied rubbing his hand over his forehead. "It's still slightly more then six months before the Titania is due back. I want to know by then just how badly we are going to need that new colony. We have put a lot of our eggs into that basket."

"If you give the order, Operation Red Line can begin within seven days," Admiral Nagala replied. "The ships need to return to Shadow base for final provisioning and a little R & R. They are ready for their mission!"

"Very well," Admiral Corman replied, knowing in his heart that he really had no choice. "The word is given Robert, and may the God's of Kobol watch over us."

Admiral Kronus stood in the huge CIC of the Shadow base construction yard. Around him, huge HD view screens on the walls gave him a clear view of the other assets currently available to the secret base. On one view screen, the Hydra and Griffin supply bases were visible. Each was fifteen hundred meters in diameter and crammed full of all the supplies the base and its personnel could possibly need for the next several years. Another screen showed the Minotaur, one of two fifteen hundred meter personnel habitats that housed the majority of the base's crew. The other habitat was the Gorgon.

"Admiral," Colonel Jeffers interrupted stepping up next to the Admiral from his command post at communications. The Gunstar Trinity reports that BSGS 1 has entered the transit corridor and should be arriving shortly."

"Finally," Admiral Kronus replied knowing what this was the beginning of. "Contact Admiral Reed aboard the Victory and have him report to the main conference room here for debriefing as soon as they have taken up station."

Admiral Reed watched attentively as his fleet of four Valkyrie class Battlestars and one Electronics Surveillance ship took up station keeping ten kilometers from the now massive construction yard that was Shadow base. In the last sixteen months, expansive construction projects had been launched. These projects were aimed at dramatically increasing the ship building capacity of the base. In addition, two more 1500-meter stations to handle the increased personnel and supplies had arrived.

"Looks like things have really been busy around here while we were gone," Commander Stramm his second in command commented, gazing with surprise at all the contacts on the Dradis screen and the other ships visible on the view screens on the front wall of the CIC.

"So it seems," Admiral Reed replied. There was so much more activity then what had originally been planned. He knew of the colonization mission. It looked like plans were in the works of massively adding to that mission when the Titania returned.

"I guess now we will find out what our real mission is," Commander Stramm continued looking at Admiral Reed speculatively. "We both suspect what these ships have been built for, I guess now we find out."

"Have my raptor prepared," Admiral Reed ordered with a nod. "Admiral Kronus wants to debrief me over at Shadow One, I guess we will know everything soon enough. "Place the ships on alert condition five and get our crews ready for leave. Plan on rotating the crews, with each crew getting at least three days off to use the bases recreation facilities, this may be their last opportunity for quite some time."

Admiral Reed sat in the co pilot's seat of the raptor as it moved quickly toward one of Shadow One's large landing bays. He couldn't' help but feel amazed at all the ships that were visible, or that were currently on the Dradis screen. There were the ten super Colony ships, each one capable of holding five thousand colonists, their supplies, and crews. There were even two old Construct Stars being refurbished and upgraded in two large open bays connected to Shadow One. A number of freighters, supply ships, tankers, mining ships, agro ships, and fleet personnel vessels were also visible on Dradis. He also noticed three more fleet Gunstars on station just above the shipyards of Shadow One.

Things had really changed in the last four months, he wondered just what had caused all of this, if he didn't know better, he would think they were preparing for war or a massive evacuation.

A few minutes later Admiral Reed walked into Shadow One's main conference room. Admiral Kronus, Colonel Jeffers, Colonel Welling, Major Kaiden, and General Abrams were all waiting for him.

"Reporting as ordered sir," Admiral Reed spoke saluting Admiral Kronus. Admiral Reed knew that Admiral Kronus was in his seventies and had served as Commander of a Battlestar in the Cylon war forty years ago. He had been about to retire when Admiral Corman had offered the aging Admiral command of Shadow One.

"As you were Admiral," Admiral Kronus replied gesturing for Admiral Reed to take a seat across from them. "From the reports we have received from Admiral Nagala it seems that your trial mission was quite successful."

"Yes sir," Admiral Reed replied sitting down. "With the technology available on the Electronics ship, we were able to plot Battlestar movements and deployments throughout the three star systems. We then used the protective shielding on the Valkyrie's to move in as close as we deemed safe. From that point we used our specially equipped stealth raptors with their drives baffled to move in even closer and scan the various bases and ships."

"I understand you were even able to get close enough to Picon to scan the shipyard and fleet base there as well," General Abrams commented looking down at a report in front of him.

"Yes sir," Admiral Reed replied. "Only Caprica Station at Caprica has better scanning and detection capability then Picon fleet base has. We were able to penetrate the perimeter scanning arrays and take detailed scans of the Picon shipyards, the fleet base, as well as Caprica Station."

"Good thing Admiral Clements didn't find out," Colonel Welling said with a slight smile. "If he knew that you had scanned Caprica Station and not been detected by his sensors his entire command crew would be doing extra duty wiping down the stations outer hull."

"Admiral Clements does not know about Shadow base and what we are doing here. Admiral Clements has his own plans and special orders if everything goes south as we all fear it may," General Abrams replied somberly.

"Which brings us to why we are all here and why this base was established in the first place," Admiral Kronus replied looking slowly around the table making sure he had everyone's attention. Standing up he looked once more at the faces of his officers. "You all know that this base was established for a two fold reason. One, to sit up a new self sustaining colony in the Delphi quadrant which Admiral Stone is currently involved in. He should be returning in six months in the Titania at which time we will launch the main colonization fleet."

"I didn't think originally that the colonization fleet was going to be this large," Admiral Reed commented recalling all the ships and construction he had observed as his fleet was coming in. He had been so involved with BSGS 1 that he hadn't really paid that much attention to what else was going on at Shadow base before they departed on their current exercise. He had also been gone for nearly four months trying to crack and penetrate the Colonies defenses as a preamble for his real mission.

"It wasn't," Admiral Kronus replied looking around the group solemnly. "But if what Admiral Corman, Admiral Nagala, and I believe is going on beyond the Red Line is true, we have no choice but to speed up the colonization effort." Then more quietly, "we may only get one shot at this."

"You think it's really that bad," Admiral Reed replied feeling worried about what Admiral Kronus was implying. He knew with the fleet reductions of the last few administrations the fleet might be hard pressed to protect all the Colonies from a major Cylon attack. He would hate to be the one deciding which Colonies to protect and which ones to leave to their own defenses. Each Colony was protected by an orbital series of missile satellites linked to a planetary defense grid, which would make any Cylon attack against a Colony very costly.

"Our latest reports from our patrols out by the Red Line are not encouraging," Admiral Kronus replied looking down at a report that lay in an open folder before him. "Long range scans continue to show what seem to be movements of new Cylon capital ships; also numerous nuclear detonations are still being detected, some in the fifty kiloton range. There is no doubt that the Cylons have built new and larger ships and that they are testing nuclear weapons close to the Red Line, perhaps hoping to draw us across."

"Fifty Kilotons!" Admiral Reed said surprised his eyes a little wider at the implications. "Those are big nukes; one of those could take out a major city!"

"I m not sure even a Battlestar with its heavy armor could hold up to one of those," Colonel welling commented, not wanting to be inside any Battlestar on the receiving end of a nuke that large.

"What are we going to do if they do attack? I assume that Admirals Corman and Nagala have the fleet ready if needed," Admiral Reed said hoping that things were not as bad as Admiral Kronus was indicating.

"We have dispersed the fleet as much as possible," Admiral Kronus replied recalling the latest fleet movements. "Admiral Nagala has doubled our patrols on our side of the Red Line. "But we must know what the Cylons are planning, that is where you and your ships come in Admiral Reed."

"So, we are going across the Red Line!" Admiral Reed responded feeling the tension in the room suddenly go up as everyone realized just what his ships had been designed for.

Several had known, but not everybody even though there had been rumors. Admiral Reed had suspected this from the very beginning when he realized the stealth capabilities of his Battlestars and the Electronics Surveillance ship. What else could his ships have been designed for.

"Yes," Admiral Kronus replied his eyes sweeping across his officers. Most had already suspected what the mission was going to be. Rumors had been sweeping all of Shadow base for months. "If the Cylons are preparing to attack we must know and prepare."

"But if BSGS 1 is detected it will start a war," Colonel Welling stated leaning back in his chair and looking worriedly at Admiral Kronus. "Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!"

"Yes," Admiral Kronus replied looking over at the Colonel, "But if we do nothing and the Cylons strike without warning, we might not be able to stop them from conquering the Colonies, or at the least inflicting serious damage to our infrastructure."

"If they only want control," Colonel Jeffers spoke pointedly. "They may want to wipe us out completely and totally."

"You mean commit genocide!" Major Kaiden broke in not believing the Cylons would take it that far.

"Perhaps," Admiral Kronus replied with a slight nod of his head. "A lot of people died in the first Cylon war and the Cylons didn't seem to have any regrets about that when the Armistice was signed. "If they come back, I fear the civilians will be hit very hard, perhaps harder then we all believe possible."

"When do we leave?" Admiral Reed asked realizing fully the importance of his mission and the responsibility that would be his.

"You have six days to prepare," Admiral Kronus replied in a steady commanding voice. "You will dock all five of your ships in the construction bays on Shadow One tonight. We will give them a final inspection and load your supplies."

"Just what are my mission parameters?" Admiral Reed asked wondering if he would be allowed to engage the Cylons if detected.

"Use your ships to map all of Cylon space," Admiral Kronus replied looking at Admiral Reed with calm clear gray eyes. "Find their home world or worlds and scan them thoroughly. We want any weaknesses that you can find in their defenses and where their major bases are. Most importantly monitor fleet movements, if they are preparing for an attack we need to know. If you are detected FTL back to Colonial space, do not engage the Cylons! You will be given a set of codes to broadcast depending on the circumstances of your return."

Six days later Admiral Reed stood at the operations table in the Victory. He watched the main view screen as they exited the long transit corridor that led through the large nebula that both protected and shielded Shadow base. As they exited, he noticed that there were now thirty five of the one hundred meter defense satellites at the entrance as well as the Gunstar Trinity that floated watchfully in the center of the corridor. Once BSGS 1 had safely exited the corridor, the camouflage field came back on and the entrance vanished looking once more like a gaseous nebula.

After moving the necessary distance from the massive nebula Admiral Reed looked across the operations table at Commander Stramm. "Alright David give the order."

Commander Stramm looked across the CIC at all the young faces and seasoned veterans that were manning the various stations, and then he turned to the navigation officer. "Lt. Kasey, implement the planned FTL jump for the fleet." Then pressing his mini com in his right ear he spoke to the crew. "All hands prepare for FTL jump, next stop the Red Line!"

Moments later the Victory and her small fleet vanished in five flashes of light leaving no trace as to where they had gone. From inside the transit corridor the CIC crew of the Gunstar Trinity knew that the fleet had left on their mission and transmitted that confirmation back to Shadow One. On Shadow One, Admiral Kronus leaned back in his chair placing his right hand on his desk tapping his index finger on the wood. He had been in his office alone since BSGS 1 had departed the base. "So now it begins," he spoke aloud to himself. He just prayed that they hadn't just started the war they were all so afraid was coming.

**Valkyrie Class Stealth Battlestar **

**(Victory, Independence, Dark Search, and Shadow Star)**

Length 1,400 meters

Width 400 meters

Height 335 meters

Crew 1,400

Marines 200

30 Twin point defense turrets

2 Heavy KEW bow batteries

6 Medium KEW twin turrets on the upper hull

2 Medium KEW twin turrets on the lower hull

2 Bow missile tubes

6 Missile tubes along the hull on both the starboard and port sides

96 Mark 7 vipers

12 Raptors

**Gunstar Defender Class**

Length 800 meters

Width 150 meters

Height 175 meters

Crew 600

Marines 50

24 Twin point defense turrets

2 Medium KEW twin bow turrets

2 Medium KEW twin turrets on upper hull

2 Bow missile tubes

12 Mark 7 vipers

2 Raptors

The Defender Class Gunstar is the Colonial Fleets main escort vessel. It is used to escort valuable civilian convoys as well as the heavier Colonial Battlestars.

**Gunstar Assault Class**

**(Trinity)**

Length 750 meters

Width 150 meters

Height 150 meters

Highly Advanced ECM Capability

Highly Advanced Communications Array

12 Twin point defense turrets

2 Heavy KEW bow batteries

4 Bow missile tubes

4 Medium KEW twin turrets on upper hull

2 Medium KEW twin turrets on the lower hull

8 Missile tubes on both the starboard and port hulls

The Assault Class Gunstar is used for quick strike missions. Their ECM package allows them to approach a target almost undetected. The ship can then launch a quick assault with its heavy KEW bow batteries and its multiple missile tubes. Unfortunately because of its size the Assault Gunstar does not carry large supplies of missiles and munitions. It must be resupplied on a regular basis.


	9. Chapter 9

**Operation Red Line**

**Cylon Search**

**60 days before the Fall.**

The Battlestar Victory moved very cautiously through the system they had just jumped into. The need for caution was simple. The Surveillance ship Silent Seeker had detected massive energy readings in this system. Currently the Victory and her sister Battlestar the Independence were moving deeper into the system to check the energy readings out. The Battlestars Shadow Star, Dark Search, and the Surveillance ship Silent Seeker were holding their positions one point two light years away.

Both Battlestars were at Condition One with vipers and raptors ready to launch if needed. Because of the necessity of avoiding detection, there was no CAP out and both Battlestars were prepared to activate their FTL drives at a moments notice.

"Anything?" Commander Stramm asked as he watched the Dradis screen above the operations table intently, which was operating in passive mode.

"No sir," Captain Grisold replied from his position at the main Dradis consul, as he adjusted the Dradis scans trying to make sure nothing got past him.

"Captain Simms?" Commander Stramm asked turning his attention to the young woman who was operating the ship's special scanners, which they hoped the Cylons would not be able to detect. So far in the previous six Cylon systems they had found, they had worked flawlessly.

"Astrometrics scans are complete sir," she replied as the data finally began flowing across her screens. "Four planets, six moons and one small asteroid field between the third and fourth planets."

"What about the energy readings the Silent Seeker detected?" the Commander asked.

"I believe they are coming from the asteroid field sir," Captain Simms replied as she studied her data more carefully. Her fingers ran quickly over the touch screen as she studied additional data from her sensor scans. "There are two rather large asteroids in the field and my sensor arrays show a lot of static whenever I try to scan in that direction. It could be interference from a large power source."

Commander Stramm turned and looked inquiringly at Admiral Reed across the operations table. "Guess the two asteroids are our target sir."

"Take us in and prepare to launch the stealth raptors, let's see just what we have," Admiral Reed ordered. He felt slightly disappointed again. There was no doubt in his mind they had found another Cylon mining operation. They still had not encountered a single Cylon warship!

For the last four months, the five Colonial ships had been surveying the stars across the Red Line searching for the elusive Cylons. So far, they had found six Cylon mining operations but no sign of a Cylon base or their military forces. The Surveillance ship, the Silent Seeker could detect energy reading from a distance of 1.5 light years. There were hundreds of stars to search; it was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Cylon main bases were out here, they just had to find them!

Commander Stramm gave the necessary orders and soon four of the special stealth raptors were on their way. A special black coating and material on their hull made them undetectable to Dradis, and their engines were carefully baffled to help avoid detection. They could still be detected but a Cylon ship would have to be in a perfect position to do that.

"Looks like another mining operation," Commander Stramm muttered shaking his head in aggravation. "Where are the Cylons? They must have some heavy bases somewhere!"

"Be patient," Admiral Reed replied looking over at the communications consul where Lt. Billings was listening intently to see if she could detect any Cylon communications in the system. The young red head was supposedly a gifted communications officer with a brilliant career ahead of her. She had graduated number one in her class at Picon Fleet Academy in communications.

"I wish we could track a ship out of the system," Commander Stramm commented placing his hands on the operations table and leaning forward slightly. "It would sure make things easier. If we could attach a tracer to one of these Cylon freighters or tankers, we could follow them back to their base or home system."

"Unfortunately once a ship activates its FTL drive the tracers we have become worthless because of the distance," Admiral Reed replied agreeing with Commander Stramm. "If we attach a tracer powerful enough that we can detect, the Cylons will probably be able to detect it also, and we don't want that. We will just have to do this the hard way."

"Sir I have a narrow beam transmission from the lead raptor," Lt. Billings reported. "They have found two large mining operations; both seem to be Tylium sir. There are also a number of tankers waiting to be loaded lying off to the sides of both asteroids."

"Tempting targets," Commander Stramm commented wishfully. "If we took them out and destroyed these two mining operations the Cylons are bound to respond by sending one or two of their warships to investigate. At least then we could see what type of ships we are dealing with."

"True," Admiral Reed agreed, even he hated passing up all these tempting targets. However, the Cylons and Colonies were not currently at war and he was not going to be the one to instigate an armed conflict between the two.

"Very well Lt., recall the raptors," Admiral Reed ordered his eyes becoming lost in thought. "That gives us seven mining operations, when we get back to the Surveillance ship let's plot the seven and see if we can find a pattern. Perhaps all these mining operations will tell us where we need to look next. A major Cylon base has to be close by!"

Andrea Nagala skimmed through her daily reports from her subordinates. Operations Manager Anderson had already summarized them so it was relatively easy for her to go through them quickly. Two Tylium deposits were playing out and would become non-profitable in another two weeks. Already two new Tylium asteroids were being readied for mining and as soon as operations were completed on the other two asteroids, the expensive mining equipment would be moved to the new mining sites.

The planet Virgon had placed an unusually large order for copper and platinum. Checking her computer screen Andrea called up their current reserves of the two metals. She was pleased to see that sufficient quantities of both metals were currently in the storage areas on Helos to satisfy the order.

The Keller Corporation operated a large number of huge refineries and smelting operations on several large asteroids as well as on Helos. There were many large storage areas carved out of the asteroid to hold all the metals and other minerals that were mined, smelted down, refined, and then molded into shippable sizes that could be easily handled. The majority of all shipments were made from these storage warehouses and then the warehouses were simply refilled from the ongoing mining operations.

Aquaria wanted nearly two thousands tons of liquid Mercury for use in their deep underwater cities. Frowning, Andrea checked on their liquid Mercury stockpiles and saw they didn't quite have enough to cover the order. She made a quick notation to talk to Don about that. The Keller Corporation had a reputation of always being on time with their commitments.

After another hour, she had completed going over all the summarized reports. Andrea leaned back in her chair and glanced casually about her spacious office. On the far wall was a large painting of an ocean scene from Aquaria. The painting depicted one of the planet's deep blue oceans with the sitting sun just vanishing over the horizon. On the right hand wall, was a picture of a large snow capped mountain over looking a frozen lake from one of the World Parks on Caprica. Perhaps her favorite painting was on the left hand wall. It was a painting of the lush orchards of Aerilon just before harvest, with the trees laden in a variety of multicolored fruit. These paintings helped to relax her and remind her of the other worlds outside of Helos. Even though after so many years she now considered Helos to be her home.

Rising to her feet, she sighed knowing she had a heavy schedule for the day. First, she would go over to Main Operations and check on a few things, and then she was supposed to meet Colonel Marshall for lunch in Helos City. Idly she wondered just what the Colonel wanted. Very seldom did they meet for lunch and when they did, it always pertained to business or her father.

Main Operations as usual was a beehive of frenzied activity. The room was nearly one hundred meters across and centered around the four massive operation tables. On the walls, huge high definition screens showed views of the mining operations on the various asteroids. Technicians and project managers sat before the huge screens manning consuls that followed everything that was going on with the individual mining operations.

While most of the operations were primarily automated, they still required some crews on site. Some required more then others depending on the complexity of the operation. All views and information that was being looked at was from a few minutes to several hours old. This was due to the tremendous distance from Helos that some of the mining operations were. Sub space communication could be used in case of an emergency, and each operations manager was authorized to use it if needed, particularly if lives were in danger.

Project managers could view the entire operation of any mining project from their consuls and monitor the operation on the screens. Only when extreme problems developed was it necessary for a project manager to travel to the mine site. When that did occur, special high-speed shuttles were kept prepped and pilots on standby as needed. There were hundreds of different mining operations going on continuously and occasionally major problems did crop up.

"Don what about this liquid Mercury order from Aquaria?" Andrea asked as she walked up to Don Anderson who was sitting at his desk close to the four operations tables. His desk was stacked high with papers, notes, and schedules that he was almost always updating and changing as the situation or order warranted. "We don't normally get this size of an order for liquid Mercury."

"It's for some type of under water lighting system," Don replied looking up at Andrea, he had wondered about that himself. "I contacted our representative on Aquaria to check on just what they needed it for."

"Underwater lighting," Andrea replied surprised, sitting down in one of the chairs directly in front of Don's large cluttered desk. She had never figured out why he insisted on keeping his notes in such an old fashion way. Putting everything on the computer would be so much easier. She thought about what Don had just said. She knew liquid Mercury used to be used quite commonly in lighting, but the Colonies had been getting away from that use for the last several decades.

"We have several mines that are currently mining Mercury," Don continued picking up a note he had written earlier and glancing at it. "But they have been operating on the lower rate of their production capacity. I have already contacted the operation managers for those two mines and we will speed up production. We should have no trouble meeting the schedule."

"Good," Andrea replied, pleased that Don had already taken the necessary action. That was why she paid him the big cubits. "I also saw that our survey shuttles have finished their mineral mapping of sector 112 of the asteroid field. Have their survey reports sent to my personal terminal once they are down loaded."

Later Andrea made her way through a number of long interconnecting corridors deep beneath the Helos asteroid. The corridors were crowded with people going to work or to Helos City for relaxation. With so many people needed to operate the massive mining operation, it had become necessary to blast living quarters out of the depths of the massive asteroid. Nearly one hundred and forty thousand people lived inside the asteroid and another sixty thousand who were at the mining operations, also made their permanent homes here when they were not at the mines.

Andrea took one of the many transit elevators down another forty levels and when the door opened, she stepped out onto a large flat platform that was full of people. Numerous chairs and benches filled the area. Walking over to the edge of the platform, she looked out over Helos city. Her breath caught in the back of her throat as it always did as she looked out over the city.

It had cost nearly twenty five billion cubits to build the city below her. An area of the asteroid nearly four kilometers long, half a kilometer high, and a little over one kilometer wide had been hollowed out. Busy streets full of businesses, restaurants, entertainment centers, and everything else that might be needed to make life more pleasant so far away from home was available. A large central park nearly three hundred meters across and eight hundred meters long was covered in trees, grass, with a small a small blue lake in the center. Even from Andrea's current position she could see people walking in the park along its many walkways and paths.

Andrea made her way down into the city and toward one of her favorite restaurants. The streets were very wide and small electric commuter shuttles ferried people to where they needed to go. There were also numerous small electric cars that served as a taxi service. Finally reaching the Blue Grotto restaurant Andrea stepped inside. She was escorted quickly to her table where Colonel Marshall was patiently waiting. He was already sipping on a glass of what looked like an amber Ambrosia.

Colonel Marshall stood up smiling as Andrea reached the table; he waited until she sat down before he took his own seat. "Hello Andrea," he said in a pleasant voice. "I took the liberty of ordering you a glass of Ambrosia," he said gesturing to the partially filled crystal glass sitting before her.

"That you Colonel," Andrea replied surprised, reaching for her glass she took a small sip. She was surprised at the taste; this was vintage Ambrosia not the cheap stuff! The Colonel definitely knew his Ambrosia. This was a side of him that surprised her, choosing a good Ambrosia was not easy.

A server made an appearance and after studying the menu for a moment both placed their orders. The restaurant was filled with numerous people enjoying a pleasant meal and conversation. Gentle music played in the background and the smell of various foods made the restaurant extremely enticing. Andrea was really starting to feel hungry. She hadn't eaten much that morning. She had a tendency sometimes to skip breakfast completely.

"So Colonel," Andrea began relaxing in her chair. "Just what did you want to talk to me about and why couldn't it have been done in my office or yours? Not that I don't mind a good meal here at the Blue Grotto."

"I received a message from your father yesterday," Colonel Marshall replied his eyes focusing unwaveringly on hers as his face took on a serious look. "He believes that the Cylons are infiltrating the Colonies."

"Infiltrating the Colonies," Andrea spoke in surprise leaning forward slightly feeling confused and not wanting any one else to over hear their conversation. "How, I mean their machines, surely they would be spotted!"

"He doesn't know," Colonel Marshall replied. "But several suspicious programs have been found in the defense mainframes on Gemenon and Virgon, programs that should not have been there."

"And my father thinks the Cylons are responsible," Andrea spoke not feeling surprised; her father was paranoid about the Cylons sometimes. "Couldn't it have been some hacker wanting to make a name for himself by cracking the code to a mainframe? It wouldn't be the first time that's happened."

"No, this was way too thorough," Colonel Marshall replied shaking his head worriedly. "The programs were set up to be activated simultaneously when they received a specific signal. They would not have been found except a high level programmer was loading a new firewall into the mainframe on Virgon. He found the program hidden in a seldom used maintenance file in the defense mainframe. If it was a hacker, he would have wanted the program found more easily so he could brag about it. They found the same program in Gemenon's defense mainframe."

"Is that all, just the mainframes on Virgon and Gemenon?" Andrea asked perplexed. She still didn't see how it could possibly be the Cylons. Surely in this instance her father was wrong.

"Andrea, these are defense mainframes that are responsible for the entire defense grid surrounding the planets!" Colonel Marshal reiterated wanting Andrea to understand just how serious this was. "Unfortunately they were not the only problems. We have been experiencing a lot of computer problems throughout the Colonies, only our fleet so far seems to be unaffected."

"What does my father want?" Andrea asked. If she knew her father there would be more to this then just a warning about possible Cylon infiltration.

Colonel Marshall was quiet for several moments a troubled look crossing his face. "Your father is sending six more ships to the special fleet we have hidden in the asteroids. I think they are some type of Gunstars that were taken out of service several years ago and have been secretly upgraded. We won't know until they get here."

"More warships," Andrea echoed surprised. Her father must really be worried.

"I believe your father is becoming very concerned about the current situation with the Cylons," Colonel Marshal replied keeping his voice low. "Even though no one has actually seen a Cylon in forty years, all the evidence seems to indicate they're behind these computer problems. The programming that we have uncovered is just to complex for it to be humans!"

Andrea was silent as she though about the ramifications. Six more warships that no one knew about. Her father was taking a giant risk. His career would be on the line if anyone ever found out. Just how much longer could he keep these ships a secret anyway? If he was willing to take this much of a risk then things were much worse then she had imagined.

"He is also stationing a Valkyrie class Battlestar in our system. It will act as the command ship for our three Gunstars," Colonel Marshall informed Andrea. "He hopes that will give us enough firepower to hold off a Cylon attack until the fleet can respond with heavier units without resorting to our special fleet.

"Colonel Marshal, if I know my father he must believe a Cylon attack is imminent," Andrea said slowly weighing all the possibilities. This situation may be much worse then she had originally thought.

"I agree, and from the information your father has sent me about the situation he may very well be right," Colonel Marshall replied somberly.

"Then we need to begin making preparations to defend the Caspian system, Helos, and the mining operations," Andrea spoke realizing just how difficult it would be to protect everything. There were trillions worth of cubits invested in the mining operations in the Caspian system. It was the biggest investment this side of Caprica itself.

"I currently have two Defender Class Gunstars at my disposal and one Assault Class Gunstar," Colonel Marshall replied. "At the base we have nearly three hundred vipers and forty raptors. We have plenty of munitions and missiles for all of them stored in the deep bunkers. The Valkyrie class Battlestar Shrike will be here in two more days."

"Anything else Colonel?" Andrea asked knowing there was from the look on the Colonel's face.

"As you know we installed twenty defensive turrets and four medium KEW batteries around the base during the last few months," What you don't know is that Admiral Nagala also sent us six 100-meter defense satellites. The satellites carry small interceptor missiles primarily for shooting down opposing fighters and enemy missiles."

"I assume you are going to place them around Helos," Andrea replied amazed at what her father was trying to do.

"Yes, however they came with special boosters that can be used to place them into orbit around Helos rather quickly," Colonel Marshal replied. "We won't launch them until they are needed. We are also going to start flying an armed CAP around Helos besides our regular practice patrols."

"Then that's all we can do for now, we just wait and see what happens," Andrea replied settling back in her chair seeing the server was headed their way with their food orders. For some reason Andrea's appetite had faded considerably.

"One other thing Andrea," Colonel Marshall said more quietly, almost in a whisper. "Your father suggests you make plans to evacuate the Caspian system if needed."

"Evacuate!" Andrea gasped not believing what she had just heard. Did her father expect her to give up the family's massive mining operation without a fight? It would bankrupt the Keller Corporation over night. Not only that, but the Colonial Fleet could be in the system in just two jumps!

"Just make the plans Andrea," Colonel Marshall said quietly. "Hopefully they will not be needed, but I think we will all feel better if we are ready to evacuate if the situation here becomes untenable."

The server arrived with their food and the two sat silently as they ate their meal. Both were deep in thought wondering what the future might hold. Andrea was concerned, she had over two hundred thousand people to be worried about. That total didn't include all the ship crews that were continuously going back and forth between the Caspian system and the Colonies. Their safety and survival might very well depend on how she handled this possible Cylon situation. Sometimes she wished she was not Admiral Nagala's daughter.

Colonel Marshall ate his food slowly, wondering just what Admiral Nagala expected him to do. If the Admiral was correct, he might very well have infiltrators or Cylon sympathizers in his own base. There was no doubt that there were probably some here on Helos and scattered throughout the system. The huge Keller mining operation was just too big a target to bypass. He just hoped the special fleet hidden in the deep asteroid fields would be sufficient if all else failed!

**45 days before the Fall**

Admiral Corman was ushered into the Vice President of the Colonies office on Caprica. Corman wondered just what Vice President Gerent Urie wanted; his summons had been very elusive as to the purpose of this meeting.

Vice President Urie stood up as the Admiral entered. "Admiral Corman, it's good to see you," he spoke gesturing for the Admiral to take the lone large cushioned chair sitting in front of his desk.

"It's good to see that you are looking so healthy," Admiral Corman replied. "I heard that you have been thorough a lengthy bout of the flu."

"Yes the flu," Vice President Urie replied with a slight nod. "You would think that with our science and technology we could find a cure for the flu, but every year a new variant seems to pop up."

The two sat silently for a minute then the Vice President spoke with a very serious look on his face, "Peter just what the frak are you and Nagala up to? There are rumors of secret bases, secret missions, money being funneled to special projects the government did not approve, and other worrisome reports."

Admiral Corman was silent for a moment wondering just how much the Vice President really knew. He also wondered if both he and Nagala might not be sitting in front of firing squads very shortly. The Vice President had always been a staunch supporter of the military.

"I guess your silence is evidence enough," Vice President Urie replied with a trace of anger in his voice. Why did the military always have to make things so difficult?

"We only did what we thought was necessary to protect the Colonies," Admiral Corman began defensively, still not sure what the Vice President knew.

"Enough Peter," Vice President Urie interrupted him coldly. "If you were going to take these steps why didn't you come to me first, it would have made everything so much easier. Building a secret military base, sending a fleet into Cylon space, what the frak were you and Nagala thinking. You two could start a war!"

"We didn't want to get you involved sir," Admiral Corman replied defensively. "You have always been a stalwart defender of the military and we didn't want to risk you being associated with this if everything blew up in our faces."

"It's a good thing I am a firm believer in our military," Vice President Urie replied looking Admiral Corman directly in the eyes. "I have managed to squelch all the information about secret bases, secret missions, and the other things you and Nagala have been allegedly involved in."

"Thank you sir," Admiral Corman replied feeling a little relieved but still wondering where the Vice President was going with all of this.

"The trouble is Admiral, I can only keep it squelched for so long and then it's going to come out into the open," the Vice President continued with a warning look. "How much more time do you need?"

Admiral Corman took a deep breath. "Two to three more months' sir, if we don't have the evidence we need by then to convince the President that the Cylons are going to attack, then we won't be able to get it until it's to late!"

The Vice President was silent for a long moment as he weighed his options, if Corman and Nagala failed it would probably end in their court-martials and his impeachment. "Very well," he said with a deep sigh. "I can cover everything up for three months, but that's all. After that everything is going to come out, I won't be able to stop it. Right now only a few very special agents of the government know what's going on, fortunately they report only to me."

"Thank you sir," Admiral Corman replied relieved, rising from his chair. "If Admiral Nagala and I are right in what we believe the Cylons are preparing to do then our actions will be vindicated."

"I hope you are wrong about the Cylons," Vice President Urie spoke standing up. "But my gut feeling says you might be correct, that's why I'm doing this. Just be more careful from now on!"

**32 days before the Fall**

Admiral Corman was aboard the Battlestar Atlantia meeting with Admiral Nagala, only on the Atlantia did they both feel totally secure. The Atlantia and her fleet were in orbit high above Picon. Several ships in the Atlantia's fleet were going through a quick refit at the large fleet shipyard above Picon.

"Everything seems so fracked up Peter," Admiral Nagala commented from his plush chair behind his massive desk.

His office walls were covered with photographs of various ships and paintings of actions in the Cylon war of 40 years past. Some of the first Battlestars were in the large photographs, the Columbia, the Pegasus, the Galactica, the Solaria and even the Ricon. Only the Galactica and Pegasus were still in active service. The Galactica was due to be retired and turned into a museum in another month. The old Pegasus was being used as a viper-training vessel. It to would be retired in another year. Especially since Admiral Helena Cain was in command of the new Mercury Class Battlestar Pegasus.

"It always seems darkest before the storm Robert," Admiral Corman replied from his comfortable seat in front of Admiral Nagala's desk.

"We are still detecting those fraken sensor ghosts along the Red Line, I wish we would hear back from BSGS One," Admiral Nagala spoke looking in Admiral Corman's direction with a little frustration edging into his voice. "The Cylons have to be up to something!"

"Admiral Reed has his orders, they are not to report back for six months or until they find the Cylon home world," Admiral Corman replied, he had been very explicit in the sealed orders he had sent to Admiral Kronus to forward on to Admiral Reed. "They have a big area to search and we don't know how many worlds the Cylons may now inhabit."

"It's this waiting that gets me," Admiral Nagala spoke taking a deep breath. "They could attack tomorrow, next week, or next year, we just don't know."

"I am afraid it will be sooner then later," Admiral Corman replied with a grim look on his face. "We are finding more problems with our computer systems all the time, someone is really screwing us around. It has to be the Cylons! Our analysts are predicting an attack within the next four months based on the amount of computer manipulation that is going on. It's rapidly increasing!"

"The fleet and all the major bases are still free of these computer problems," Admiral Nagala commented allowing a little relief to creep into his voice. "We are running diagnostic scans routinely and have set up numerous firewalls. My computer people tell me it is virtually impossible for the Cylons to plant any type of virus in our ships or major bases with the precautions we have taken. If they attack we will be ready!"

"What about Caprica Station?" Admiral Corman asked. "Does Admiral Clements feel his station is still secure?"

"I talked to him yesterday and he reported everything was normal," Admiral Nagala replied. "They have some very good firewalls set up in their new computer system on the station. They have also initiated additional scans and diagnostics. He has a very talented computer staff."

"What about your daughter and the Keller mining operation in the Caspian system?" Admiral Corman inquired. Admiral Corman knew that Admiral Nagala was worried about his only daughter and her safety. Due to its minerals and heavy mining operations it would be a prime target in a Cylon attack. The Cylons instead of destroying the system might be more inclined to send in troops and capture it, preserving the Keller Corporation's vast infrastructure throughout the system.

"We've done everything we can to be ready," Admiral Nagala replied. "We have increased the size of the defense fleet we have hidden out in the asteroids. We have increased the size of the fleet base, and I have been arranging to have several extra Gunstars in system when ever possible."

"Why not assign a Battlestar or two?" Admiral Corman asked. "The politicians would go along with it considering how valuable the Caspian system is."

"I though about it, but if the Cylons have us infiltrated as much as we believe, it would only bring about a heavier attack on the Caspian system when the time comes," Admiral Nagala replied closing his eyes briefly.

"They won't pass up the system Robert," Admiral Corman stated worriedly. "It's just too big a target and to important to the Colonies, the Cylons know that without the Caspian system the Twelve Words economies would grind to a halt very quickly."

"I know, I have taken the additional risk of assigning a Valkyrie class Battlestar to the system," Admiral Nagala replied. "I don't think I dare add more then that."

"Which Battlestar?" Admiral Corman asked.

"The Shrike," Admiral Nagala replied.

Admiral Corman pursed his lips in thought. The Shrike was an older Valkyrie with an experienced Commander and crew.

"This way the Cylons will be expecting only the Shrike, a few Gunstars, and the old Mark 2 vipers at the fleet base." Admiral Nagala stated. "That should allow our special fleet to be able to handle the attackers if our own forces can't respond quickly enough."

"Then what?" Admiral Corman asked already suspecting what Admiral Nagala had planned if everything went down the tubes.

"Then we evacuate the Caspian system personnel to Shadow base and hope the Titania has returned by then with the coordinates for the new colony," Admiral Nagala replied looking Admiral Corman in the eyes unblinking.

"Yes, the new colony," Admiral Corman replied ignoring Nagala's comment about evacuating the Caspian system to Shadow base. It was something he had been prepared to suggest anyway. "The Titania should be back in forty more days."

"Hopefully things will hold together until then," Admiral Nagala replied leaning forwards slightly. "Perhaps by then Admiral Reed will be back and we will know the Cylons true intentions."

"We both know that if the Cylons are planning an attack it will be in overwhelming force," Admiral Corman replied. "They won't attack unless they feel they can win!"

"I know and that's what scares me," Admiral Nagala replied nodding slowly. "We have one hundred and twenty Battlestars plus support ships. I just don't see how they can take on our entire fleet. I just feel that we are over looking something, but for the life of me I can't figure it out!"

For the next several hours the two discussed fleet dispositions and the state of readiness of all Colonial ships in case of a Cylon attack. Fleet defense posture was to be raised to Condition four effective immediately. All ships would continue normal patrols and refit schedules. The new CNP was being installed as part of the refit program. The new CNP would give them a decisive edge in making quick FTL jumps and coordinating Colonial ship movements. It might be just what they needed to stop the Cylon attack dead in its tracks.

The President would be informed that the heightened state of alert was for drill purposes only and would only last for a few weeks; hopefully by then they would know one war or another.

**24 days before the Fall**

Admiral Reed was watching the Dradis intently. They had finally found a major Cylon base. By plotting all the mining operations they had been running across the past several months, they had narrowed the search area considerably and today it had paid off. The Silent Seeker had detected massive energy signatures in this system. Not just a few like in the mining systems, but nearly one hundred!

The Victory and Independence were moving in system very slowly. The ships were at Condition One and viper pilots were at the ready. They could launch at a moments notice if need be. Already Admiral Reed had authorized the launch of six specially shielded sensor probes deeper into the system. The probes were targeted toward the area where the energy emissions were being generated.

"Probe data coming in," Captain Simms reported almost quietly as she poured over the information now coming across her screens. The probes were very small and contained just a few sensors, but what they were reporting was startling.

"We have what looks like two types of Cylon warships," Captain Simms commented as she put up a sensor reading of a very large star shaped craft on the main view screen. This ship out masses a Mercury Class Battlestar, we can't tell from the probes what type of weapons it posses or its capabilities."

"That's one fraken big ship!" Commander Stramm commented scrutinizing the main view screen. He didn't like the looks of the Cylon ship at all.

"What about the other ship?" Admiral Reed asked as he also studied the worrisome image on the screen.

"It smaller and more similar to the old Hades Class Basestars the Cylons used in the war. Two large saucers connected by a short pylon," Captain Simms replied projecting this image up on the screen. "The biggest difference is that the saucer sections are twenty per cent larger and the pylon is three times thicker."

"Anything else?" Admiral Reed asked wondering just what they had found.

"The probes are picking up numerous small craft, perhaps raiders, and some type of larger raider perhaps a heavy raider," Captain Simms reported calling up more data on her screens, she spoke briefly to her assistant who was operating the consul next to her. "There are also numerous Cylon freighters and tankers in the area."

"What about the planet?" Commander Stramm asked his eyes open wide still staring at the screen. "Is it their home planet, can you tell anything from the probes?"

"Not a lot sir," Captain Simms replied apologetically. "All we can tell about the planet is that there are some major energy readings coming from it and three of the large moons in orbit."

"Then we have to get closer," Admiral Reed said looking meaningfully at Commander Stramm.

Commander Stramm looked back at the Admiral then nodded in agreement. "It's the only way. Just like back in the Colonies."

"Yes," Admiral Reed replied. "Just like back in the Colonies." Only this time, the Admiral knew if they were caught, they would ignite a war. From the number of Cylon warships the remote probes were detecting, they would also probably be destroyed!

The Victory and Independence continued their slow approach to the system's forth planet. Hour after hour, they slowly crept nearer. Shielded raptors had been launched and their passive Dradis systems were greatly enhancing the range of the Dradis screens on the two Battlestars. Viper crews were now being rotated so fresh crews were always at the ready. However if they were detected it would mean they had failed in their mission.

The two Battlestars closed on their intended target adjusting their course constantly as they threaded their way around Cylon patrols. Information was flowing rapidly from the Dradis screens and the ship's special sensors. They were now within sensor range of the Cylon ships and the planet.

"Report," Admiral Reed demanded turning to look at Captain Simms expectantly.

"We show seventeen Cylon Basestars and fourteen support ships," Captain Simms replied looking at the information on her main screen. "That's assuming the big star shaped ships are Basestars and the dual saucer ships are being used for support ships."

"What about the planet and the moons?" Admiral Reed asked looking worriedly at Commander Stramm. That's 31 warships they had detected, what if this was only a base? Just how large a fleet did the Cylons have?

"The planet seems to be the site of three massive industrial complexes," Captain Simms reported adjusting several sensors to get a better reading of the targeted areas of the planet in detail.

"Not their home world then," Commander Stramm commented his voice coated in disappointment.

"I don't believe so sir," Captain Simms replied. "There is just not enough activity on the surface."

"What about the moons?" Commander Stramm asked.

"Same thing there, several large industrial areas and a lot of mining operations," Captain Simms reported trying to stay on top of everything. There was so much data coming in now that much of it would have to be looked at and analyzed later.

"There is also what appears to be a major shipyard in orbit around the planet," she continued as their sensors began to look on the far side of the planet.

"Very well Captain," Admiral Reed commented looking at all the Cylon vessels now showing up on the Dradis. "Commander Stramm let's start putting some distance between us and the Cylons. I believe we have enough information on this system."

Admiral Reed was very worried as they slowly departed the system taking care not to be detected. They would return to the location where they had left the rest of BSGS One, then put some distance between them and the Cylons. They needed to take some time to study the data they had collected before they continued their search. Somewhere close by was the Cylon home world, Admiral Reed was sure of that!

_Author's note: The Cylons have not discoverd Shadow base due to the fact the Nebula the base is located in has a radiation that is deadly to the Cylons but harmless to humans. A few mysterious deaths have occured at Shadow base but the Doctors who have examined the dead have not realilzed that they are human form Cylons. All the Cylons know is that a few of their infiltrators have died and not been resurrected. The radiation also prevents resurrections._

.


	10. Chapter 10

**Operation Red Line **

**The Fall Part One**

_**Authors note: This chapter turned out a lot longer then I had orginally planned so I divided it into two chapters.**_

Admiral Reed watched the Dradis screen pensively as they slowly threaded their way deeper into the Cylon system. This was the Cylon's home system, of that there could be no doubt! For two days, the Victory and the Independence had slowly weaved their way through numerous Cylon patrols and warships. The two Battlestars were moving ever slower and closer to the planet that was their intended target.

"We are in sensor scanning range of their main world," Captain Simms spoke almost in a whisper, as if she was afraid the Cylons could hear her. Tension in the CIC was thick, as everyone knew they were surrounded by heavy Cylon vessels.

Glancing at the Dradis screen Commander Stramm felt extremely apprehensive. It was covered with contacts, Basestars, Support ships, heavy raiders, regular raiders, tankers, and numerous other unidentified ships. If the Cylons were to detect them, he knew they would not be able to escape. Both Battlestars had as much power as possible damped down and movement aboard the ships was being held to a minimum. There were no unnecessary sounds and no unshielded power usage.

"Commence scans then," Admiral Reed ordered trying to sound as calm as possible. He knew that the entire CIC crew was highly uneasy about their current position. They were in the heart of the Cylon system, surrounded by Cylon warships, if they got into trouble there would be no help coming to rescue them.

While they had penetrated some extremely sophisticated defenses back in the Colonies during their training mission, none compared to this! They had finally found the Cylon home world, and the installations they were approaching were massive. They were finally within reach of completing their mission.

In the last month, they had located four systems containing enormous Cylon bases and fleets of ships. All four systems had been scanned in scrutinizing detail. Now if they could get detailed scans of the Cylon home world, they could return to the Twelve Worlds and report what they had found. That the Cylons were preparing for a major attack there could be no doubt. The fleets they had found were just too large. This was a military build up that far surpassed anything the Admirals back home had considered possible. The Cylons were preparing to return to the Colonies and finish the war they had started over forty years ago!

After a few tense minutes, Captain Simms finally turned and faced Admiral Reed and Commander Stramm. "It's definitely the Cylon home world. My scans are detecting what seems to be a number of large populated cities on the planet's surface as well as numerous industrial complexes. There is also one very large vessel or space construct in orbit. I am also detecting numerous shipyards and orbiting manufacturing facilities in high orbit of the planet."

"How large?" Commander Stramm demanded wishing they were close enough to see more on the main view screen.

"It's nearly forty kilometers in length and eight kilometers wide sir," Captain Simms reported. "The ship is shaped like a giant spider!" **(The Colony**)

"A space station or shipyard," Commander Stramm said. "It has to be, no ship can be that large!"

"I don't think so sir," Captain Simms reported shaking her head in disagreement. "If my sensors are correct, that thing is heavily armed and equipped with FTL power systems. It has to be a ship of some type."

"Anything else?" Admiral Reed asked wanting to get as close to that large ship as possible. If it really was a ship, they had nothing in the Colonies to match it. He wanted some very detailed scans to take back to Fleet High Command so they could make plans to deal with this dangerous threat.

"Yes sir," Captain Grisold replied looking at the data coming in from his passive Dradis scans. "We are detecting twenty ships of an unidentified type. They are fifteen hundred meters long and four hundred wide. I can't identify their purpose. There also seems to be a rather large Basestar in orbit, nearly twice the size of the others." (**Resurrection ships and the Hub)**

"Look at all the fraken ships," Commander Stramm muttered eyeing the Dradis screen critically. There were dozens of Basestars and Support ships in orbit around the Cylon world. That didn't include the numerous fleets scattered throughout the rest of the system.

"Sir I have multiple contacts jumping in all around us," Captain Grisold spoke in alarm, as a warning tone began going off on his consul.

"What are they," Admiral Reed demanded looking at the Dradis screen above the operations table, which showed numerous ships appearing all around the Victory and Independence. Had the Cylons found them? The FTL drives were not spun up in fear the Cylons might detect the energy build up. "Stand by to launch vipers and spin up the FTL," he ordered watching the Dradis screen intently.

"Cylon Basestars," Captain Grisold reported as he read his scans. "Twenty two of them."

"Any signs they have detected us?" Commander Stramm demanded. If they had, their mission was over. They would never be able to spin up the FTL drives quickly enough to escape, and their vipers would be overwhelmed.

"No sir," Captain Grisold reported. "They are not making any hostile moves."

"They are too close sir," Captain Simms said worriedly. "At this range they will be able to detect our power signatures, even shielded."

It took Admiral Reed only a moment to decide what had to be done. "Lt. Billings use a com laser to inform the Independence to kill their power and go silent. Only life support, short range Dradis, and communications are to be left on. Commander Stramm, as soon as Lt. Billings has informed the Independence, kill our power also except for the systems I just mentioned."

"That will leave us defenseless sir," Commander Stramm replied. "If they spot us we will be destroyed before we can get our weapons back on line!"

"We have to, it's our only chance," Admiral Reed responded his eyes filled with worry and concern. "We can't let the Cylons find us, not now!"

For the next forty hours, they played dead hoping the Cylons would not detect the two Battlestars. The tension in the CIC was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Admiral Reed and most of the CIC crew were using stimulants to keep themselves awake. The ship's doctor cautioned the Admiral about such widespread prolonged use. The Admiral knew the risk but wanted his best people in the CIC at all times. The Cylons could find them at any moment.

"How much longer are they going to stay here?" Commander Stramm spoke almost in a whisper as if the Cylons might be able to detect his voice if it was too loud. "There are several Cylon Basestars within twenty kilometers of us; I can't believe they haven't found us already!"

"They're not looking for us," Admiral Reed replied quietly his eyes looking up at the Dradis screen which still showed numerous Cylon Basestars all around them. "Our hulls are painted dark black, our engines are off, and they wouldn't be expecting enemies this deep in their system. Only if a raider collides with us or they notice that we are occulting stars occasionally, will they be able to detect us. We just have to be patient and hope our luck continues to hold."

"For once I hope the Gods of Kobol are watching out for us," Commander Stramm spoke back looking at the main view screen, which showed a Cylon Basestar. The enormous ship filled the entire screen.

"I didn't know you were religious," Admiral Reed replied surprised at Commander Stramm's comment.

"I'm normally not," Commander Stramm replied with a wane smile. "But I figure we need all the help we can get right now, and if that means praying to the Gods, then I will pray to the Gods."

The Victory and Independence continued to play dead, nearly powerless, several times raiders and heavy raiders passed within a few kilometers of the two ships, increasing the tension in the CIC. Admiral Reed finally rotated the CIC crew insuring that everyone received at least eight hours of rest before going back on stimulants.

It was nearing nearly ninety hours later when the Cylon Basestars suddenly began jumping away. In just a matter of a few minutes, the Dradis screen cleared as the last Cylon ships vanished in a flash of white light.

"Full passive scans," Admiral Reed commanded wanting to see what was going on. He wondered worriedly where the ships were going.

The Dradis scans expanded until they included the Cylon home world. Almost all the Cylon ships were gone except for the truly large one and about eight Basestars and Support ships.

"Short range com to the Independence," Admiral Reed commanded. "Inform them to power back up."

On the Victory, the systems rapidly returned to normal and the entire crew felt relieved as the ship came back to life.

"The ships around the Cylon home world are definitely gone, except that big one," Captain Simms spoke worriedly, her fingers playing over her touch screen, rapidly reading the information her highly specialized sensors were giving her. "There are four Basestars and four Support ships still in orbit as well as large numbers of raiders and heavy raiders, but their fleet has definitely left."

"Frak," Commander Stramm said his eyes looking at the Dradis screen. "Where have they gone to?"

"I can think of only one place," Admiral Reed replied with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Lt. Billings send a message to the Independence to spin up their FTL drive, we're jumping back to the rest of BSGS1 and then we're going home."

"They will detect our jump this close to their home planet," Commander Stramm warned.

"I don't think it matters now," Admiral Reed replied his face suddenly looking years older.

Commander Stramm eyes suddenly widened in dawning comprehension, "Our Colonies, you think they have left to attack the Colonies!"

"Where else would they have gone," Admiral Reed replied, his eyes filled with worry. "What's worse, we don't know when they left; they could have jumped several days ago. We have been trapped for days by that Cylon fleet. We don't know when the rest left!"

A few minutes latter, the Victory and Independence suddenly vanished in two bright flashes of light.

Moments later twenty Cylon heavy raiders jumped in and searched the area, informing the Colony that nothing was found.

**Sagittarian Shipyards Zero Hour**

Colonel Lena Randle awoke from a deep sleep to find herself flying through the air to collide with the far wall of her sleeping quarters. She fell to the floor slightly stunned hearing a loud rumbling. Staggering to her feet, she leaned against the wall feeling a violent vibration. A second loud rumbling and shaking sent her to the floor once more where she remained for a full moment as she gathered her senses. Colonel Randle was the commanding office of the Sagittarian Shipyards in high orbit above the Colonial planet Sagittaron.

Climbing back to her feet she hit the com unit on the wall, which normally would connect her immediately to the CIC, but all she heard was static. It was at that moment that the floor heaved once more. She was knocked down to the floor bruising her side. She lay on the floor feeling the sharp pain as the station shook and vibrated severely. Then another, louder rumbling struck and she could hear the metal panels in her wall groaning from the shaking. The lights suddenly went out and she was left in darkness. Fortunately, the emergency lighting came back on almost instantly.

"What the frak," she said wondering what was going on rising slowly and painfully to her feet. It felt like some type of explosion had struck the station, more then one from the way she had been thrown around her room. "If some idiot Battlestar Commander just rammed my shipyard I'll have his head," she muttered, quickly dressing and heading toward the door to exit her quarters.

Opening the door, she stepped out into the long corridor. Looking to her left, she saw an emergency bulkhead was closed with a flashing red light above. The flashing red light indicated that vacuum was on the other side. With a sinking feeling Lena knew that this was much more serious then a Battlestar ramming the shipyard. Her quarters were too far toward the center of the shipyard for that type of damage to reach here. "What the frak is going on," she said aloud feeling extremely worried. The emergency CIC was closest and that was where she decided to go.

Hurrying down the corridor in the other direction, she began to pass confused members of her crew who asked her what was going on. Lena responded that she didn't know but they should stay calm and report to their emergency stations. It took her nearly fifteen minutes before she reached the emergency CIC. Two heavily armed marines were standing outside and saluted her as she approached and she quickly entered the room.

"Status," she barked seeing that the CIC was only partially manned. She was relieved to see her third in command Major Lane Richards manning the operations table.

"The shipyard was hit by six nukes," Major Richards reported turning to face Colonel Randle with a relieved look on his face, realizing she had survived.

"Nukes," Colonel Randle replied looking stunned. "What do you mean nukes, who fired them at us?"

"It's the Cylons Colonel," Major Richards replied. "We had just received a war warning from Picon Command transmitted in the clear. It was Admiral Corman sir; he said a major Cylon attack is underway!"

"What parts of the shipyard did they hit and can we get power back on," Colonel Randle demanded. The fraken Cylons were back! How could this have happened without warning? Where was the fraken fleet? Why hadn't their own defenses stopped the Cylon missiles? The shipyard was heavily armed.

"We are currently operating on emergency batteries," Major Richards replied. "Four nukes hit the Battlestar docks, one took out our power grid, and the last targeted the CIC."

"What about our defense system, why didn't it stop the Cylon missiles?" She asked realizing that the CIC crew was probably dead.

"Something happened to our computer systems," Major Richards replied looking frustratingly at screens that were blank or filled with static. I was here in the emergency CIC trying to help figure out why some of our systems were behaving erratically. We had just received the war warning and were about to call you when the Cylons struck."

"What about power?" Colonel Randle asked knowing that casualties on the shipyard must be in the thousands. There had been over twenty thousand people on the shipyard. This included the shipyard crew, the Battlestar crews that were going on leave, and some civilians.

"What survives of our engineering crew believe they can get one of the emergency energizers on line in about twenty more minutes," Major Richards replied wishing more of his screens were working. It was almost impossible to get any information. "A lot of the power couplings have been damaged and crews are trying to repair them. A large part of the shipyard is in vacuum and some areas are cut off completely."

"We need to begin searching for survivors as soon as possible," Colonel Randle ordered, she knew that every minute wasted people could be dying somewhere on the shipyard. "Some people are going to run out of air!"

"We already have people on it sir," Major Richards replied, "but we are short handed, a lot of key people are either dead or missing."

Colonel Randle looked around the emergency CIC; almost half the stations were unmanned. "Find people to man those stations, also I want a view of what is going on outside. There are two Battlestar fleets currently in orbit, I want communications and I want to talk to those fleet Commanders as soon as possible."

It was nearly thirty minutes before power returned, during that time enough command personnel had been found to fully man the emergency CIC. When the view screens finally came on, they were all stunned by what they revealed. Sagittaron was centered in the main screen and nuclear explosions could be seen detonating all over the planet.

Major Richard looked at the screens feeling stunned. He was now receiving some information from the few sensors that were still operational. "Some of those nukes are in the fifty megaton range!"

"Where's our fleet?" Colonel Randle demanded. "Why aren't they attacking the Cylons, also why isn't the planetary defense grid knocking down those missiles?" She ordered the main view screen to be focused on the planet's Capitol Tawa.

Everyone in the CIC became deathly quiet. The city was in ruins with two nuclear mushrooms rising above it, and clouds of rapidly spreading dust beginning to cover and obscure the destroyed city. Over four million people had called Tawa their home.

"Sir I am picking up ship debris in orbit," Captain Kevin Stern the Dradis operator reported. It looks like debris from at least three Battlestars and several Gunstars." He studied his Dradis screen for another moment then continued. "I am picking up numerous Cylon raiders all over my screens."

"What about the planetary defense force?" Colonel Randal demanded. There were over one thousand vipers and raptors based on the planet.

"There is a lot of debris in orbit Colonel," Captain Stern replied studying the data on his screens. "Much of it matches the remains of Colonial vipers and raptors, they have been destroyed!"

"I'm getting reports of massive fleet losses," Lt. Kristen Perkins reported from her com station, where she was monitoring panicked reports now coming in from everywhere.

"What are you hearing Lt.?" Colonel Randle demanded walking over to the communications station. This was rapidly turning into a frakken nightmare!

"Fleet communications reports that we have already lost nearly thirty Battlestars," she said her voice sounding panicky. "The Cylons have some method of shutting down our ships. Numerous Battlestars and Gunstars report losing all power when engaging the Cylons. I am also getting panicked reports over the civilian com channels that the Cylons are nuking all the Colonies."

"They're trying to wipe us out!" Major Richards said with anger in his voice. His family lived in the city of Oranu on Gemenon. He knew with a coldness in his heart that Oranu would have been a primary target of the Cylons.

"I have six Cylon Basestars in orbit around Sagittaron and what looks like four Cylon Support ships," Captain Stern reported trying to keep his voice calm.

On the main view screen an image of a Cylon Basestar suddenly appeared. The giant star shaped ship was in the process of launching more raiders and missiles. The missiles were headed for the planet.

Colonel Randle looked around the emergency CIC; most of the crew looked scared and were in shock. She wondered what she should do. Their own defenses were gone, the shipyard was heavily damaged, and they didn't have a lot of power available to them.

"Major Richards, find out what ships we have left on the shipyard, both military and civilian," Colonel Randle ordered reaching a decision. "I don't want anyone outside of the shipyard where the Cylons will see them. Right now, they are leaving us alone. They must think they have created enough damage that they don't need to finish us off, or perhaps they believe we are all dead."

An hour later, she had her answer. In the civilian docks there were four Princess Line passenger liners unharmed, two empty Tylium tankers and six large freighters. In the military docks, it was a disaster. Two fleet personnel transport ships were intact, one fleet hospital ship, and surprisingly the Jupiter Class Battlestar Olympia. All the other Battlestars were in shattered ruins. While a Battlestar's armor should have been able to handle a single nuke, the secondary explosions from the Tylium fuel lines and the shattered docks had finished the destruction of the Battlestars for the Cylons.

"What about the Olympia, can we get her out?" Colonel Randle asked looking at Major Richards.

"I don't know," Major Richards replied looking at the information on his computer screen and calling up some schematics of the docks around the trapped Olympia. "There is a lot of tangled up debris around her, some of it smashed up right against her armor. We could probably free her, but we will have to go outside and cut her free, that's going to take some time, at least four hours minimum."

"Sir the Cylon ships are leaving!" Captain Stern spoke surprise covering his face.

"Where the frak are they going?" Major Richards asked looking intently at the Dradis screen. Sure enough, all the Cylon ships were gone. The raiders too!

"It's Admiral Nagala sir," Lt. Perkins spoke listening intently to her com unit. He is gathering what's left of our fleet at Virgon and Leonis. It seems those two systems were hit the lightest and Virgon has even managed to get part of their defense grid back on line." She listened a moment more and then spoke. "The Cylons are hacking our ship's computers through the new CNP navigation program. It's been shutting down our warships and even our vipers. Admiral Nagala is instructing all surviving ships and bases to reboot their systems with the old navigation program."

"Major Richards get the Olympia cut free and find me a crew," Colonel Randle ordered. "Lt. Perkins, send a loop message to Sagittaron that any surviving ships that have FTL capabilities are to load up as many survivors and supplies as possible and rendezvous with the shipyard."

"What are you planning Colonel?" Major Richards asked with a confused look on his face.

"We're leaving the Colonies," Colonel Randle replied knowing that the Colonies were done for. "We will take what survivors we can and high tail it out of here."

"You don't think Admiral Nagala can hold Virgon and Leonis?" Major Richards asked surprised. He knew that Admiral Nagala was the fleet's top Admiral. If anyone could pull off a miracle in this situation, it would be him.

"The fleets lost too many ships," Colonel Randle replied wishing things were different. "I suspect that Admiral Nagala is purposely trying to pull all the Cylon Basestars and Support ships to him. He is trying to give the rest of us time to evacuate, even though I am afraid there is not going to be many survivors. We have lost too many ships, both military and civilian. Let's try to rescue what we can Major."

"Where are we going to go?" Major Richard asked looking at Colonel Randle. "The Cylons will hit every Colonial base and outpost."

"We have several hours to figure that out," Colonel Randle replied, then reaching another decision. "Send a raptor to Virgon, I want to inform Admiral Nagala of our plans, perhaps he can send more civilians our way. There are bound to be others trying to escape."

Four hours later Colonel Randle was in the CIC of the Jupiter Class Battlestar Olympia. They had successfully freed the ship and found enough crew to man her. They had located nearly fifteen hundred crewmen, from all the Battlestars that had been docked at the station that had survived. Many had been on board the shipyard preparing to take leave. The CNP program had been erased and the ship's systems rebooted with the old navigation program.

"What ships do we have?" Colonel Randle asked turning to Major Martin Creen who had been the Exec on the Mercury Class Battlestar Triesta that had been destroyed in her dock.

"We have the Olympia, six Princess Line passenger ships, two fleet personnel ships, three Tylium tankers with full loads from the shipyards fuel bunkers, twelve freighters, and the fleet hospital ship."

"Not as many as I had hoped,' Colonel Randle said, sadly shaking her head.

"The Cylons hit all the planetary spaceports," Major Richards replied from his position at her side. "We were lucky to save the ones we did. The surface of Sagittaron is a mess. Civilians are fleeing into the countryside in mass and surviving marine units are going with them to give the civilians as much protection as possible."

"They won't stand much of a chance when the Cylons begin landing Centurions," Colonel Randle commented wishing she could do more.

"No," Major Richards replied agreeing with the Colonel. "If they can make it to the mountains it will give them some cover and protection. There won't be a lot of radiation in the mountainous regions that will be their best bet for long term survival. There are also some extensive cave systems."

"How many survivors did we manage to save?" Colonel Randle asked knowing what was occurring on Sagittaron was also probably occurring on all the Colonies.

"Almost twenty eight thousand," Major Richards replied quietly.

"There are still a lot of people down on the planet," Colonel Randle stated, fearing for what the survivors would have to face.

"Sir I have a Dradis contact, it's broadcasting fleet IDs, it's the Valkyrie!" Captain Stern said with excitement in his voice.

"I have Commander Stark on the com." Lt. Perkins said.

"Put her through,' Colonel Randle ordered turning on her mini com in her right ear.

"This is Commander Adrian Stark of the Valkyrie who am I speaking to?

"This is Colonel Lena Randle formerly Commander of the Sagittarian Shipyards, we are preparing to evacuate and leave the Colonies."

"I have a better idea Colonel." Commander Stark replied. "I am transmitting you a set of coordinates where you and your ships will be safe; don't ask any questions because I can't explain. I will give you more information when we arrive at our destination. I have your raptor on board, Admiral Nagala sent me to escort you to safety."

Colonel Randle only hesitated a minute. "Send us the coordinates Commander."

Several minutes later the Olympia, the Valkyrie, and the other ships vanished in flashes of white light.


	11. Chapter 11

**Operation Red Line Part Two**

**The Fall**

**Caspian System zero hour plus four **

"What's our current status," Andrea Nagala barked as she paced back and forth in front of the communications consul in Main Operations. It had been four hours since they received the war warning from Picon Fleet HQ. She wished she knew what her father was doing!

"Not good I'm afraid," Stephen Andorn replied turning to face her. "Communication has nearly come to a stop, most of the planetary sub space communication systems have been destroyed. We were receiving reports of multiple nuclear strikes on all the Colonies!"

"I can't believe they actually nuked the Colonies," Don said shaking his head in disbelief.

"What about our fleet?" Andrea demanded finding it hard to believe that what her father had feared had finally come to pass. Where was her father, where was the Atlantia?

"The last we heard, Admiral Nagala was gathering what was left of the fleet at Virgon and Leonis," Stephen replied guessing what Andrea was thinking. "We have heard nothing since."

"Picon Fleet Headquarters has definitely been destroyed?" Andrea asked wanting confirmation of that report." If that were true, then command of the fleet would now be in her father's hands. She had met Admiral Corman several times when she had accompanied her father to Picon. Andrea knew that her father and Admiral Corman were very close. She couldn't believe that he was actually dead.

"Yes," Stephen replied trying to sound calm. He was from Picon and had even attended the Fleet Academy there for one year before realizing that the Colonial fleet was not for him. "We received multiple reports confirming its destruction as well as the orbiting shipyard."

"Andrea we need to get everyone down below to the emergency Operations Center," Don Anderson suggested wondering how much longer it would be before the Cylons showed up. He was surprised they hadn't already. "We have sent everyone else down to Helos city and the deeper corridors and facilities surrounding it."

"Soon Don," Andrea replied looking at the large Dradis screen that showed the Caspian system. "We have to make sure all of our people are safe first. The emergency Operations Center does not contain all the scanning equipment and communications equipment we have up here. If the Cylons show up, we will evacuate."

"I have Colonel Marshall on the com Andrea," Stephen reported looking back at her from his position in front of the communications consul.

"Put him on the speaker," Andrea ordered. She had spoken to Colonel Marshal briefly right after receiving the war warning. Only the Colonel and she knew about the special fleet hidden in the deeper part of the asteroid field. She knew without a doubt that they would soon need that fleet.

"Andrea, this is Colonel Marshall, what is your current status?"

"We have locked down our base and sent everyone down below," Andrea replied. "All ships have been ordered to move into the asteroid field and power down. All mining operations have been shut down and the crews have gone down deep into the mines for their own safety. We have also used our sub space communications to recall all the ships currently in transit between the Caspian system and the Colonies."

"Sounds good," Colonel Marshall replied. "We have put the six defense satellites into orbit. The Valkyrie class Battlestar Shrike, two Assault class Gunstars and six Defender class Gunstars have taken up a defensive position ten million kilometers from Helos. We also have two full viper squadrons out on CAP, the others are on standby."

Behind Colonel Marshal's voice, alarms started going off, looking up at the nearest Dradis screen Andrea saw ten large contacts appear suddenly on the screen. "Looks like the Cylons are here," she spoke, her voice quivering slightly as cold chills ran down her back. "Don't let us down Colonel, we are evacuating the Operations Center and going down below to the emergency Operations Center. Good hunting Colonel!"

Colonel Marshal was in his Control Information Center deep beneath the base. It was a heavily shielded bunker designed to withstand several medium size nukes. "What do we have," he demanded walking over to the Dradis operator. A dozen men and women manned the different consuls and two heavily armed marines stood at the entrance. The heavy blast door was shut.

The young Lt. adjusted his Dradis screens slightly gathering more information, and then read the data coming across his computer screen. "Six Basestars and four Support ships, they are launching raiders sir."

Turning to his communications officer he ordered, "Have the Shrike and her Battle Group fall back toward Helos, they are going to need our viper support against those odds." He hadn't thought the Cylons would commit such a large force, at least not this early. This was going to cause some problems. The original plan was to quickly wipe out the initial Cylon force, and then evacuate the system before the Cylons realized their attack had failed. Now he was not as confident.

Long minutes passed as Colonel Marshal watched his handful of ships fall back to less then a quarter of a million kilometers from Helos. From that position, the vipers from the base could furnish support. They could also be refueled and rearmed by the Shrike if necessary.

"What are the Cylons doing?" he asked the Dradis operator who was tied in to the system wide Dradis buoy system.

"The Basestars and Support ships are slowly advancing on our Battle Group. There are over twenty four hundred raiders in a massive formation moving to intercept our ships," the young Lt. paused, knowing the odds against the Colonial vipers were going to be astronomical. "Contact should occur in less then ten minutes. Their heavy raiders are jumping all over the system. I believe they are looking for the civilian ships."

Colonel Marshall turned to Captain Everett at tactical and weapons. Colonel Everett and the two Lts. next to him controlled the base's defenses as well as the six orbital defense satellites. "Launch all of our vipers and raptors. Two squadrons of vipers are to stay on CAP around Helos, the rest are to reinforce the Battle Group."

On several large view screens, Colonel Marshall watched as the viper squadrons launched from the two training flight pods up above on the surface. Soon all three hundred vipers and twenty raptors were rising up from Helos to reinforce the Battle Group's vipers and raptors.

Colonel Marshall then stepped over to the sup space communication system and transmitted an encrypted message to the hidden fleet deep in the asteroid field. He immediately received confirmation of receipt of the message. Now all he could do was set back and do what he could to defend his base. He just hoped the hidden fleet could handle the Cylons.

On board the Valkyrie class Battlestar Shrike, Commander Reese Pearson watched his Dradis and view screens very carefully. Already he had launched all of his Battle Group's vipers and raptors into a slim defensive line between the Battle Group and the on coming wall of Cylons. With the vipers and raptors from Helos, he had four hundred vipers and forty raptors in that thin line. All the raptors were armed with interceptors to take out as many Cylon raiders as possible. Once they fired their missiles, they would fall back to rearm on the Shrike. However, against twenty four hundred Cylon raiders, he didn't know if they had much of a chance to survive.

"Major Creed, have all ships close formation for maximum flak support," Commander Pearson ordered. Maintain defensive star formation until we have dealt with the Cylon raiders." Commander Pearson hoped that the defensive fire from the six Defender class Gunstars in the Battle Group would help hold the Cylon raiders at bay. They needed to blast a hole thorough that wall of Cylons so they could attack the Cylon Capital ships.

"Yes sir," Major Creed replied. Looking at the Dradis, he wondered just how they were going to deal with the Cylon raiders. The Dradis had so many Cylon raiders showing that the entire screen looked like a solid mass of contacts.

Captain Jean Higgins, code name Starfire watched in his viper as the Cylon raiders closed. There were so many green pilots from the base on Helos in the viper formation; he didn't know how they would hold up. He just prayed his more experienced pilots would pull them through. "All right everyone, this is it," he spoke over his com trying to sound as confident as possible as the Cylons entered weapon's range. "Raptors light them up, then get the frak out of here!"

From the forty raptors, three hundred and twenty interceptor missiles launched streaking toward the approaching Cylon formation. The Cylons opened fire with their cannons, knocking down two hundred and sixty of the inbound missiles before they could reach their targets. Space was littered with violent explosions from the detonating missiles. Then the surviving sixty missiles blasted into the Cylon formation destroying forty two Cylon raiders in balls of crimson fire.

"Frak," Captain Higgins spoke disappointed. He had hoped to get more. "All right everyone, weapons free let's go get some Cylons!" With that, he hit his turbos and his squadron as well as the others raced to engage the Cylons. In moments, they were involved in a massive dogfight. Colonial vipers and Cylon raiders both were vanishing in explosions and small clouds of debris as they got weapons lock.

Captain Higgins pulled his viper up sharply bringing a raider into target lock. He squeezed his twin cannons and watched as the raider blew apart under his fire. Doing a roll and hard turn he blasted another raider to pieces that had been about to take out an unwary viper. We're better then them, he realized but there are just too many. The Battle Group was losing too many vipers too fast. If something didn't happen quick there would be no vipers surviving in another ten minutes. Not against these odds. Captain Higgins hit his turbos briefly then engaged his lateral thrusters bringing another Cylon raider into lock. Two quick bursts from his twin cannons and a third Cylon raider fell to his guns. Space was rapidly becoming littered with destroyed raiders and vipers.

On the Shrike, Commander Pearson watched as the first raiders began making their runs at the Colonial Battle Group. "Flak screens now," he ordered.

Instantly the Colonial ships were enclosed in an exploding screen of defensive flak, as the numerous twin defensive turrets on the hulls went into continuous fire mode. Cylon raider after raider was destroyed but then others began firing their missiles. It wasn't long before the first missile impacted on the Shrikes hull; there were just too many inbound missiles. The flak screens couldn't stop all of them. Commander Pearson felt the ship shudder from the impact, knowing it wouldn't be the last.

"The vipers are taking a pounding," Major Creed reported cringing slightly as viper after viper vanished from the Dradis screen, then listened to a report on his mini com. "We just lost the Gunstar Eternal, too many missile strikes. I think one of her Tylium bunkers blew!"

The Cylons were taking them out with their superior numbers. Too many missiles were penetrating their flak screen.

"All ships ten percent sub light," Commander Pearson ordered, realizing if he didn't engage the Cylon Capital ships quickly, he might not have any ships left to engage them with. The vipers had the Cylon raiders tied up in a massive dogfight, now was the best time, perhaps the only time they could hit the Cylon Capital ships. The rest of his ships were taking a lot of damage and it wouldn't be much longer before he began loosing more ships. Commander Pearson knew that once his ships came into range of the Cylon ships that his Battle Group wouldn't last long. They just didn't have the firepower to take on a force this large; at least they could try to cause them some serious damage.

They crashed through the Cylon raiders losing the Gunstar Tollen to raider missile fire. They were nearly within firing range of the Cylon ships when the Dradis operator cried out. "Sir we have ten new Dradis contacts directly behind the Cylon fleet. They are transmitting Colonial verification codes. They're ours!"

Behind the Cylon fleet two Colonial Warstars, two Firestars, and six Support Gunstars appeared in sudden flashes of white light. From the Firestars seventy two fresh mark seven vipers erupted from the launch tubes.

On board the Warstar Nichen, Admiral Kenneth Muray looked over the Dradis screen, carefully analyzing the situation. "Inform the Fury to engage Cylon Basestars at will. Captain Taggert target a Basestar, Firestars will support the Nichen and Fury as planned; all Gunstars are to target the Support ships. Lock on target and fire."

From the Nichen, six heavy KEW batteries on the heavily armored bow fired simultaneously. The twelve hundred meter long ship shuddered slightly as the heavy rounds exited the thick barrels of the KEW batteries. The rounds were slightly larger then those carried on board Mercury class Battlestars.

A Warstar was designed for one purpose and one purpose only. Move in close and destroy Cylon Basestars. They had extra heavy armor and the firepower to do just that. The massive rounds impacted the center of the Cylon Basestar causing massive explosions and cleaving it into. Explosions began radiating out across the arms tearing two completely apart. The Warstar then turned parallel to the Basestar and the ten medium twin KEW turrets on the upper hull began firing into the shattered remains finishing it off in a fiery brilliant blast of red and white as the Tylium bunkers deep within exploded.

Admiral Muray was satisfied; they had taken the Cylons by surprise. There were no raiders opposing them, though he wondered how long that would last. The Cylons had to have kept some reserve squadrons on board their ships.

"All starboard missile tubes fire as we get weapons lock confirmation," Admiral Muray ordered as the ship continued to turn towards the next Basestar in the Cylon line.

As the ship completed its turn, ten fifteen kiloton nuclear tipped missiles erupted out of their tubes streaking toward the second Cylon Basestar. The Cylons managed to intercept four of the missiles but the other six struck their intended target and the Basestar vanished as nuclear fire ripped it apart. Then the Tylium bunkers blew adding to the fiery explosion. The Cylons had not been prepared for an attack from their undefended rear. Now they were paying for that tactical mistake.

"Sir, remaining Cylons ships are launching raiders," Major Ash reported as he studied his screens, looking up at the Dradis screen suspended above the operations table. New contacts were appearing rapidly from the Cylon Basestars and Support ships.

"Order the Firestars to intercept the raiders," Admiral Muray ordered. The Firestars possessed enough defense batteries to handle the raider squadrons being launched.

On board the Cylon command Basestar, Darien Cavil looked on in shock and growing anger as another Basestar disappeared from the Dradis screen. "Where the frak did those Warstars and Firestars come from?" he demanded turning around from the Dradis screen to face the other human form Cylons.

"I don't know," one of the Simon models spoke from tactical. "They were all supposedly scrapped years ago. We saw to that, the Warstars were just too dangerous to the Plan!"

"All the ships in that fleet should have been scrapped years ago," an eight commented looking confused, her hands in the information stream. "Even the Gunstars are outdated models; they are Support Gunstars, the first Gunstars to be built, the same goes for the two Firestars they shouldn't be here either, they were all decommissioned years ago!"

At that moment, the rapidly closing Warstar Fury let loose a barrage from its bow KEW batteries at the Cylon command ship.

Darien Cavil felt himself thrown violently against a nearby wall as the lights went momentarily out. Standing back up he saw that several fires were burning in the command center and the eight that had just spoken was lying on the floor with her neck at a curious angle.

"Damage report," he screamed in anger looking toward one of the Simon models.

"FTL is out, main power is out, launch bays have been destroyed, and we have fires raging out of control all over the ship," the Simon model reported.

"In other words we are going to die!" Cavil uttered feeling contempt and frustration at the humans for what they were about to put him through. He had never been resurrected before.

"Yes, we are going to die!" the Simon model replied taking his hands out of the data steam and staring back at Cavil defiantly.

The Fury completed her turn and her ten port missile tubes spouted death at the Cylon ship. The Basestar exploded as the ten missiles struck and burning nuclear fire swept over the Cylon ship. Moments later a massive ball of fire, expanding gases, and melted glowing debris was all that was left of the Cylon command Basestar.

The Cylon raiders began trying to withdraw from the dogfitht with the Colonial vipers, attempting to return to give cover to the suriving Cylon ships. But now the Colonials had the upper hand and they knew it.

Cylon raider after raider fell to Captain Higgins and his squadrons. There was no organization to the Cylon withdrawal and suddenly it became a shooting spree for the Colonials, just like shooting fish in a barrel. With the command Basestar gone, coordination with the Cylon raiders had momentarily been interrupted and the Colonials were taking advantage of it.

Commander Pearson pulled back from the Cylon Capital ships and sent his Battle Group flying through the heart of the retreating Cylon raider formation, blowing raider after raider out of space with the Battle Group's defensive turrets. Unfortunately, he had lost two Defender class Gunstars to missile attacks and one of his Assault Gunstars was severely damaged which substantially limited the damage they were doing. However, the Cylons seemed so intent on getting back to defend the remaining two Basestars and Support ships, that few missiles were being fired at the surviving Colonial ships of his Battle Group. It was a major tactical error on the part of the Cylons.

"Holy Kobol where the frak did those Warstars and Firestars come from?" Major Creed spoke, still not believing the ships that were showing on the view screen. He hadn't seen one of those in years. They had all been sent to the Boneyards for decommissioning.

"Who cares," Commander Pearson commented with a wolfish smile on his face as eight more raiders fell to the Shrike's defensive turrets. "The Cylons are loosing, we're going to win this battle!"

It was at that moment that four Cylon heavy raiders jumped directly in front of the Shrike and launched their nuclear payloads at the Colonial Battlestar.

"Inbound nukes," the Dradis operator screamed as he realized that they were to close for the flak screen to take them all out.

"Brace for impact," Major Creed yelled to the CIC crew as two nukes impacted on the outer armor of the Battlestar.

The Battlestar momentarily vanished as two large nuclear blasts violently shook the ship and it was briefly covered in nuclear fire. Then it reappeared badly scared and blistered.

"Damage report," Major Creed demanded turning to the Damage Control officer.

"The armor held, but just barely," the shaken Lt. replied. "We have some hull ruptures and fires burning in several compartments. We lost one of the medium KEW turrets and three of the defensive turrets. They weren't real large nukes or it could have been much worse!"

Over Helos, white flashes began appearing, two hundred and six Cylon heavy raiders jumped into orbit around Helos. These were the ones that had been out in the asteroid field searching for the Colonial civilian ships. The six defensive satellites suddenly began expelling countless interceptors, which began taking out the heavy raiders as their missiles struck raider after raider. Numerous explosions dotted the sky above Helos. From the fleet base defensive turrets began firing non-stop as their computers locked on targets. Then in unison, the surviving heavy raiders fired their nuclear payloads at Helos.

Colonel Marshall was watching the Dradis screen intently when he saw the missiles streak away from the heavy raiders and head toward Helos, many of them directly at his base.

A warning tone went off on the Dradis consul, "inbound nukes," the Dradis operator reported his voice quivering slightly.

One look at the screen and Colonel Marshall knew they would not survive this onslaught. "Good luck Andrea," he spoke softly as the first fireball erupted above the base vaporizing the defensive turrets and the two launching pods. The next four nukes steadily penetrated deeper and deeper underground shaking and rattling the Command Center. The fifth vaporized the underground CIC in a brilliant flash of light, sending Colonel Marshal and his entire base into oblivion.

In space, Commander Pearson looked on in shock as Helos disappeared in a monstrous flash as nuclear blasts marched across the asteroid. Long moments later the asteroid reappeared but it looked vastly different. The area where the fleet base had been now glowed a deep red as molten rock flowed into a very deep crater. The surface buildings of the Keller Mining Corporation had been wiped out by a fifty to one hundred kiloton nuke. Everything for kilometers had been leveled. The asteroid now boosted an additional one hundred and twelve new smoking craters.

"Do you think they survived?" Major Creed asked looking in shock at the view screen that showed Helos.

"I hope so," Commander Pearson replied still feeling stunned at what the Cylons had done to Helos. "Helos City is nearly five kilometer below the surface, that's a lot of rock between them and where that nuke went off."

Admiral Muray watched, as the last Cylon Basestar exploded in a massive explosion from the combined fire from the KEW batteries of the Nichen and the Fury. The last Cylon raider also vanished under the withering fire of the Firestar's defensive turrets and vipers.

"The Cylon heavy raiders are jumping away," the Dradis operator reported.

Frak, Admiral Muray cursed to himself silently. That meant the Cylons would soon know what had happened here and would return with a larger force. They needed to leave and leave quickly. "Status of all ships," he demanded.

"The Fury reports minor damage from a nuke strike on her port armor, both Firestars report slight damage from raider strikes and repairs on both should be completed within the hour," Major Ash reported. "Unfortunately our escorts didn't fare so well against the Support ships. They got all four of them, but we lost the Drenndon, the Claven, and the Maklin. The other three Gunstars are damaged but repairable."

"What about the Shrike and her Battle Group?" Admiral Muray asked his face taking on a worried look as he gazed at the view screen, which was centered on Helos. Andrea had better have survived! He had promised Admiral Nagala that he would take care of her. It was Admiral Nagala that had arranged for his ships to be brought out of decommissioning and refitted. It was Admiral Nagala and only Admiral Nagala that he reported to.

"The Shrike was hit by two nukes from heavy raiders, she is operational but it will take several weeks to complete all repairs," Major Ash reported. "They lost two Defender class Gunstars and one of the Assault Gunstars is heavily damaged."

"They hurt us," Admiral Muray commented shaking his head. "We didn't expect them to hit us with ten Capital ships. Move us in range of the Shrike's Battle Group; we need to form up into one fleet. We need to initiate rescue operations on Helos and throughout the Caspian system. When the Cylons show back up we have to leave, no matter how many people we have to leave behind!"

Admiral Nagala looked at the operations table with worry, a frown crossing his forehead. The Cylon fleet was growing and already the fleet's vipers and Cylon raiders were heavily engaged. It wouldn't be much longer until the main fleets would be in weapons range of each other. He knew that at Leonis the battle was already underway. There were twelve Battlestars and thirty two Gunstars at Leonis; he had Twenty six Battlestars and seventy two Gunstars here at Virgon. He still had nearly forty percent of the fleet in ship totals. Unfortunately, most of the casualties had been in the heavier units. Only thirty percent of the fleet's Battlestars still survived and many of them were damaged. They had lost many of their viper squadrons to the CNP problem. His fleet was currently positioned between Virgon and one of its moons. On Virgon, they were still working frantically trying to bring more of the planetary defense grid back on line.

The planet had already been hit by numerous nukes, but some of the cities and military bases on the surface still survived. It was all due to the fact that not all of the defense grid had gone down. They had lucked out, two of the main defensive satellites had been off line for repairs and the repair crews on board the fifteen hundred meter spheres had managed to activate the satellites defensive and offensive systems manually. As a result, three Basestars and two Support ships in orbit of Virgon had been destroyed causing the other Cylon ships to withdraw until they could come back with reinforcements.

Admiral Nagala hesitated a moment before reaching a decision, then walked over to the com. "Send this message to the Battlestars Dathym, Holden, and the four marine assault ships. I am sending over a raptor with a special set of orders for them." He then spent several minutes writing down some instructions and a series of codes, which he handed to a young female raptor pilot. "Take this to the Dathym and deliver it to the Commander, you are to stay on board."

A few minutes later Admiral Nagala smiled to himself as the two old Columbia two class Battlestars and four marine Assault ships disappeared in six white flashes. He had sent them to the Caspian system. They had orders to escort Andrea and her people to Shadow Base. He then turned his attention back to the operations table and the huge Dradis screen suspended above. The Cylon's Capital ships were closing. Now he just needed to buy some time, time for Andrea and her people. There was also Admiral Clements and the operation he was currently involved in. He prayed that both were successful.

Four hours later Andrea Nagala stood in the CIC of the Warstar Nichen next to Admiral Muray. Her father's ships had arrived, and they were about to leave the Caspian system. Already Cylon Basestars had jumped into the far reaches of the system and were systematically searching every mining facility. Cylon heavy raiders were popping up all over the Dradis screen.

Andrea knew that she was still in a state of shock. Colonel Marshall was dead and tens of thousands of civilians had died. Some had died in the mines, some in civilian ships that Cylon heavy raiders had managed to find, and thousands more on Helos. Many of the tunnels and other underground facilities had collapsed from the Cylon nuclear bombing. They had not been designed to stand up to that type of punishment. She also knew that in all likelihood, her father was also probably dead and the Atlantia destroyed.

Luckily for Andrea and many of her people, Helos City had survived as well as the asteroids main docking bays. They had recalled all the civilian ships and frantically loaded all the survivors. She knew that many families had become separated in the frenzied rush to get everyone aboard the ships. They could be reunited later; the important thing was for them to survive. In all, counting the crews on the civilian ships, they had managed to rescue nearly one hundred and sixty two thousand people, not counting the crews of the warships.

Only ten minutes before, she had watched in horror on the long range scanners as six Cylon heavy raiders had jumped into high orbit around Helos and totally obliterated the asteroid with twenty four fifty megaton nukes. All that remained of Helos now was a smoldering husk of molten rock, ashes, and dust. For some reason the Cylons had decided to destroy the asteroid and all the facilities it contained.

Admiral Muray looked at the sad look on Andrea's face in understanding. Helos had been her home and now it was gone. With a nod to Major Ash, the fleet jumped. One hundred and twenty two ships vanished in bright flashes of light from the Caspian system, their destination Shadow Base!

**Cylon Space zero hour plus forty hours**

The Battlestars Victory and Independence flashed into existence where the rest of BSGS1 awaited.

"Lt. Billings get me Commander Turner on the Dark Search," Admiral Reed ordered looking towards the communications consul.

A few moments later Commander Turner's voice came over the com system. "We were beginning to get worried Admiral, we were expecting you back days ago."

"What about the Cylons, did you detect their ships leaving?" Admiral Reed demanded with concern in his voice.

"Yes sir, the majority of the Cylon ships left two days ago, we sent stealth raptors to their main bases and the ships in those systems were also gone," Commander Turner reported. "I sent four raptors to Armistice station with orders to contact the Colonial Fleet High Command, with a warning about the Cylons. Armistice station has a large sub space com array that can easily contact the Colonies. Once the warning was sent, the raptors were ordered to jump to four different destinations. They have data copies of all the information we have gathered on the Cylon bases. Their destinations were Picon Fleet Headquarters, Caprica Station, Scorpion Fleet Shipyards, and Shadow Base."

"Two days ago," Admiral Reed spoke quietly looking at Commander Stramm worriedly. "Lt. Billings contact all ships and tell them to prepare to jump. We're returning to the Colonies!"

Eight hours later and after four FTL jumps BSGS1 flashed into existence at the location of Armistice station.

"Status," Admiral Reed demanded as the Dradis screen began to clear.

"Launching CAP," Commander Stramm reported as he listened to reports from the landing bays.

Six vipers left the Victory and began patrolling around the fleet.

"Dradis is not showing Armistice station," Captain Grisold reported adjusting his scans. "Permission to go to active Dradis scan sir."

"Permission granted," Admiral Reed replied placing his hands palm down on the operations table looking at the Dradis screen above his head intently. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Moments later, an area of the Dradis screen began showing a multitude of small contacts.

"What the frak is that?" Commander Stramm asked looking at the screen in surprise.

"Wreckage," Captain Simms spoke quietly. She had activated her special sensors and she did not like what they were showing. "It's the remains of Armistice station!"

"The Cylons," Commander Stramm stated shaking his head. "Armistice station was probably their first target; they wouldn't have stood a chance." He knew that the station had not been armed. It wasn't armed so it wouldn't be a provocation to the Cylons.

"I'm picking something else up at extreme range," Captain Simms continued as she read the data coming across her screens. "It looks like debris from four raptors sir."

"Our raptors were ambushed," Commander Stramm said his eyes growing wide with worry and sudden realization. "If the Cylons destroyed them, then our warning about an impending attack didn't reach the Colonies in time!"

"Land the CAP Commander," Admiral Reed ordered in a slightly strained voice. The Colonies could be under heavy attack at this very moment! "We're going to jump close to the Caprica system and use the Silent Seeker's surveillance system to see what they can detect. We need to know the status of the Cylon attack."

Twelve hours later they knew that their worst fears had been realized, only much worse then they could have ever imagined. They had checked all three Colonial star systems. Cylon Basestars and Support ships were in orbit above all the planets and inhabited moons. Colonial sub space communication was absent and there was no civilian chatter on the airwaves either.

Admiral Reed then sent in the stealth raptors to survey the damage and check on the fleet bases, the news they brought back was disheartening.

"All twelve Colonies have been nuked," Captain Simms reported trying to keep the emotion out of her voice as she read the information in the data downloads from the raptors. "All the fleet bases and shipyards have either been destroyed or heavily damaged. This is a camera shot from a raptor of Picon Fleet Headquarters." On the screen appeared a jagged hole in the ground nearly five miles across and several miles deep. It was still smoking and glowing, molten rock could be seen at its bottom.

The entire CIC was quiet as they looked in shock at the view screen. Admiral Reed knew that Admiral Corman was dead; Admiral Corman would not have left his command!

"What about Caprica station?" he asked. Caprica station was the most heavily armed station in the Colonies; he could not imagine Admiral Clements being caught unaware.

"It's destroyed sir," Captain Simms replied. "There is only a large debris field where it once orbited Caprica."

"What are the Cylons doing now?" Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes momentarily, Admiral Reed opened them and looked worriedly at Commander Stramm.

"From the information we have gathered they are landing troops on all the planets and inhabited moons," Captain Simms replied.

"Why?" Commander Stramm asked looking confused. "If they wiped us out why land troops?"

"There are large sections of the Colonies that are still radiation free," Captain Simms replied checking the information on her screens once more.

"The Cylons nuked all the major cities and military bases but left many of the outlying areas alone," Captain Simms reported.

"What do we do now?" Commander Stramm asked looking at Admiral Reed. With only four ships, they could not help the trapped civilians down on the Colonies, it would be suicide.

"The Silent Seeker has not been able to detect any ships from the Colonial Fleet still active," Admiral Reed replied worriedly. He wondered how the Cylons could have taken the entire Colonial Fleet so easily. Over three hundred warships! Not only that, Admirals Nagala and Corman had suspected they were coming. They would not have been caught unaware. Something was wrong, very wrong!

"They could be laying low, their power shut down to avoid detection from the Cylons," Commander Stramm spoke.

"We need to return to Shadow Base," Admiral Reed replied finally, feeling that they had failed in their mission. If they could have returned sooner, perhaps they could have prevented this disaster.

"If the Cylons haven't found it," Commander Stramm said worriedly.

"Let's hope they haven't," Admiral Reed replied, turning to navigation. "Lt. Kasey, prepare to jump to Shadow Base."

Eight hours later BSGS1 arrived at the entrance to Shadow Base. Admiral Reed felt relieved when he saw the camouflage field was still intact.

"Send the code," he ordered watching the view screen intently. Everyone in the CIC seemed to be holding their breaths.

Moments later the camouflage field went down and they all felt relieved when they saw the Gunstar Trinity as well as the Battlestar Valkyrie standing guard at the entrance. There were eighty of the one hundred meter defense satellites protecting the entrance also.

"Message from the Valkyrie," Lt. Billings reported.

"Admiral Reed it's a relief to see you sir," Commander Kross's voice came across the com. "We feared that you had been detected and destroyed."

"No, we survived," Admiral Reed replied. "But it looks like the Colonies did not."

There was silence on the com for a moment, and then Commander Kross's voice spoke up. "All is not yet lost Admiral, take your fleet down the corridor, Admiral Kronus will be extremely pleased to see you and your Battlestars."

BSGS1 made its way down the long transit corridor to Shadow Base, as they exited the corridor they all looked in amazement at the main view screen. It was full of ships, hundreds of civilian ships as well as military ships.

"Where did they all come from?" Commander Stramm spoke in amazement as he looked at the crowded Dradis screen.

"They're survivors," Admiral Reed spoke with relief in his voice. "A fraken lot of survivors." He wondered just what would happen next. It was evident that the Cylon victory hadn't been quite as successful as he had first feared. All the ships on the view screens and on the Dradis gave him hope. We will make the Cylons pay, he thought. Oh yes they are going to pay!

_Author's note: So ends Operation Red Line. I did not go into a lot of detail about the Fall because that will be covered in a story I will be putting up in January, 2011. It will involve Admiral Clements and revolve around another group of survivors. Gunstar Titania and the story in January are both stand alone stories, even though some of their characters are inter connected. That story is already written and just needs to be spell checked and some minor changes made. I may go back and connect the two stories slightly; I haven't quite made up my mind yet._

_There are still two more chapters to Gunstar Titania. I want to make sure they are done right, so it might take a while to put them up. I hope that I can do one chapter every week and a half. Hope you have enjoyed the story so far and I want to thank everyone for their reviews. It makes writing so much easier!_

**Jupiter Class Battlestar**

Length: 1,600 meters

Width: 400 meters

Height: 400 meters

Crew: 1,600

Marines: 250

40 rapid firing twin defensive turrets

4 heavy bow KEW batteries

10 medium twin KEW batteries on the upper hull

4 medium twin KEW batteries on the lower hull

24 missile tubes. 12 each on the starboard and port sides of the ship

144 Mark seven vipers

24 raptors

**Columbia 2 Class Battlestar (**Upgrade of the old Columbia class Battlestar**)**

Length: 1,300 meters

Width: 350 meters

Height: 325 meters

Crew: 1,800

Marines: 200

24 rapid firing twin defensive turrets

2 heavy bow KEW batteries

6 medium twin KEW batteries on the upper hull

8 missile tubes. 4 each on the starboard and port sides of the ship

96 Mark seven vipers

16 raptors

**Warstar**

Length: 1,200 meters

Width: 350 meters

Height: 300 meters

Crew: 1,200

Marines: 250

Reinforced armor in all areas of the ships hull particularly the bow

20 rapid firing twin defensive turrets

6 heavy bow KEW batteries

10 medium twin KEW batteries on the upper hull

20 missile tubes. Ten each on the starboard and port side of the ship

**Firestar**

Length: 1,200 meters

Width: 350 meters

Height: 300 meters

20 rapid firing twin defensive turrets

2 heavy bow KEW batteries

4 medium twin KEW batteries on the upper hull

8 missile tubes four on the starboard side of the ship and four on the port side.

36 Mark Seven vipers (single flight pod suspended from the lower hull of the ship, flight pod's outer hull is heavily armored)

6 raptors

**Escort Gunstar**

Length: 600 meters

Width: 150 meters

Height: 150 meters

Crew: 400

Marines: 50

20 rapid firing twin defensive turrets

2 medium KEW batteries on the upper hull

**Columbia Class Battlestar:** Used during the first Cylon war and immediately afterwards. Most currently decommissioned.

**Columbia Two Class Battlestar:** Used toward the end of the first Cylon war and for approximately twenty years afterwards. Most currently decommissioned.

**Warstar:** Put into service approximately 15 years after the end of the first Cylon War. All decommissioned.

**Firestar:** Put into service 20 years after the end of the first Cylon War. All decommissioned.

**Jupiter Class Battlestar:** Put into service 15 years before the second Cylon war. Still in service.

**Escort Gunstars: **Put into service 10 years before the second Cylon war. Decommissioned after two years of service.

**Defender and Assault Class Gunstars: **Put into service 8 years before the second Cylon War. All still in service.

**Valkyrie Class Battlestar: **Put into service 10 years before the second Cylon war. All still in service.

**Mercury Class Battlestar: **Put into service 5 years before the second Cylon war. All still in service.


	12. Chapter 12

**Gunstar Titania**

**The Return**

Admiral Jason Stone was in the CIC standing at the operation's table, idly watching the main view screen as the Titania and its small fleet prepared to make their sixtieth jump. For thirty days, they had been jumping back toward the Colonies doing two jumps per day. They had made a wide detour around Ovion space. Each jump brought them closer and closer to home. Ten more jumps and they would be back at the nebula that hid Shadow Base.

"Jump," Major Dyson ordered after hearing over her mini com that all ships were ready. These jumps had gotten to be routine and she watched the crew of the CIC carefully making sure everyone stayed on their toes.

Instantly Jason felt that queasy feeling, which he still hated but knew he had to endure. Then the CIC came back into focus. "Status?" he asked as the Dradis and view screens began to clear.

"All ships present and in their designated post jump positions," Lt. Everson reported as he checked his Dradis screen. "No other Dradis contacts sir." Karl felt relieved; so far they had not detected another ship since they left Demeter.

Jason looked at the large Dradis screen above the operation's table. Nine other contacts surrounded the Titania. There were three other Titan class Gunstars in the fleet formation. The only one missing was the Defiant, which was still back at Demeter. The Defiant was guarding the planet, along with two Kobolan battle cruisers and four Kobolan escort ships until the Titania returned. The other ships in the returning fleet were the two empty Colony ships going back for another load of colonists, one half empty Tylium tanker, the Kobolan battle cruiser Zeus, and two Kobolan escort ships.

"Do you ever get used to these jumps?" Emissary Osiris asked from where he was standing next to science specialist Denise Anthon, feeling his stomach churning. It was the same after every jump.

"You get used to it," Major Dyson spoke with a half smile. It had taken her nearly a year to get used to FTL jumps after she graduated from the academy and was assigned to her first ship posting.

"We have medications on the Zeus Emissary," Denise spoke up. "It diminishes the physical and mental effects of the jumps considerably. I have mentioned this before!"

"I know," Emissary Osiris replied his face a little bland. "But I keep hoping I will get use to these jumps."

Jason smiled listening to the two. If you didn't know better, you would never know that the two were from a very different branch of humanity. This off shoot of humanity had fled Kobol to New Kobol and now resided on the planet Terra.

"Go to condition three Major Dyson," Jason ordered feeling that the fleet was safe. "Inform all ships we will stay at this location for twelve hours while all ships recalibrate their FTL drives. Standard CAP while we are in this system."

"Yes sir," Major Dyson replied as she tapped her mini com to inform Captain Steele about the CAP and how long they would be staying.

Several hours later Jason, Emissary Osiris, Captain Landers, Specialist Anthon, Dr. Graystone, Commander Garrison from the Lodestar, and Captain Steele were enjoying a private meal in a small dining room just off the ship's main cafeteria.

"I can't believe we are almost back home," Sylvia Graystone spoke taking a sip of water from the crystal glass sitting in front of her. "It seems so long ago that we left Shadow Base. They will be amazed at what we have discovered. The news of the Kobolans will excite everyone in the Colonies!"

"Wait until they see the Zeus and what we have done to the Titania," Captain Steele commented with a smile. He knew that just the presence of the Zeus and her escorts were going to shock the Colonials back home.

"I can't wait to visit your worlds," Captain Landers spoke looking at the Colonials who he had become close friends with. "I hope that once we get to this secret base of yours that arrangements can be made for us to tour your Colonies."

"I am sure that will not be a problem," Jason replied with a twinkle in his eyes, imagining the response from Admirals Kronus, Nagala, and Corman when they realized just what he had brought back home with him. In the secure safe in his quarters were the new designs for all the fleet's warships. There was other technology they were bringing back also; yes, he could very well imagine their surprise.

"We are bringing back so much," Sylvia added enthused. "I can just imagine all the scientists and research people who are going to want to return with us when we go back to Demeter."

"We still have nearly ten more jumps to complete before we get back home," Captain Steele reminded her with a slight smile. "It will be good to get back home and catch up on the news from the Colonies."

"They are really going to be shocked when we show up with the Zeus and the other two Kobolan ships," Commander Garrison commented looking over at Emissary Osiris and Specialist Anthon. "This is going to be a huge deal for the Colonies. A lot is going to change over the next few years. Especially with all the new technology, we are bringing back. It may allow us to actually look to a future without fear of the Cylons, and for your people Emissary Osiris, without fear of the Ovions."

"I am sure that Demeter will grow rapidly with an influx of new colonists," Denise replied with some excitement in her voice. "A lot of people are going to want to travel to Demeter and then on to Terra. It will be hugely beneficial to both of our worlds!"

"I'm just glad we got so much accomplished before we left," Jason replied with a smile at the younger woman's enthusiasm. He too expected many Colonials would want to settle on Demeter or at least to visit.

Jason's last view of Demeter was still fresh in his mind. There was so much that had been accomplished, the new shipyard, the orbiting automated factories, the massive Kobolan defense grid, which by now would be nearly complete. The two finished Colonial cities sitting on the surface waiting for the new colonists. With assistance from the Kobolans, a lot had been accomplished in a very short time.

Six more city sites had already been laid out, and with aid from Terra would be completed in record time. Everyone expected the Colony to grow exponentially the next few years, once word of the Kobolans and Terra got out to the Colonies. The six new city sites would be ready for the influx of new Colonists that were sure to come.

Their meal was interrupted by an emergency klaxon going off and Major Dyson's concerned voice coming over the room's com unit. "Admiral to the CIC, Admiral to the CIC." Then a red light in the room began flashing indicating that the ship was going to Condition One.

"What the frak now?" Captain Steele said rising to his feet looking at the Admiral.

Jason stood quickly up and walked over to the com unit on the wall pressing the send button. "This is the Admiral, what do we have, and why have we gone to Condition One?"

"Admiral we are picking up an automated distress call from the Battlestar Aries on the fleet sub space channel. It's coming in on fleet line Alpha," Major Dyson reported. Fleet line Alpha was used only by fleet Capital ships and was highly encrypted. It was also used primarily for sub space communications.

"The Aires," Jason replied surprised. "She is a Mercury class; I wonder what she is doing so far out from the Colonies?"

"The distress call says they are under attack," Major Dyson replied. They are three light years away in a star system off to our starboard."

"By who?" Jason asked. Who would dare attack a Mercury class Battlestar? He wondered worriedly if it could be the Ovions. Had the Ovions found the Colonies?

"The Cylons," Major Dyson replied in a flat and worried voice. "They are asking for help from any surviving Colonial units, they also say they are protecting a civilian fleet."

"Surviving Colonial units," Captain Steele uttered in worried surprise looking at the other Colonials in the room.

"Prepare the fleet to jump Major," Jason ordered wondering just what the frak was going on. "Jump us just outside of Dradis detection range of that signal; we will jump raptors in closer to make sure this is not some type of trap."

Captain Landers stood up and looking over at Jason. "I will return to the Zeus and prepare, just tell us what to do."

Ten minutes later Jason felt the normal queasiness that always came with an FTL jump, only this time it was accompanied by extreme worry. Why was the Aires escorting a civilian fleet, and why were there Cylons way out here past the Colonies? Even more so what had the Aires meant by that cryptic comment about any surviving Colonial units!

"Jump complete," Major Dyson reported as everything returned to normal.

"Send the raptors!" Jason ordered as the view screens and Dradis cleared up.

"My long range sensors are picking up ships twenty two million kilometers off of our starboard bow," Lt. Grimm reported as her eyes scanned her computer screen. "Can't tell make up or identity from here sir."

"Raptors have jumped," Major Dyson reported listening to her mini com.

"Sir there is a small gaseous nebula at the location where I am detecting the ships," Lt. Grimm added adjusting her scans. The Kobolans had updated the sensor array she was using, but at this range the detailed data was very sketchy.

Moments later she began getting a camera feed from the lead raptor, which she switched to the main view screen, everyone in the CIC became ghastly quiet.

On the screen appeared a ship, a ship that resembled a star, as the camera zoomed out they saw two other such ships appear. There were also two ships that resembled the twin saucer ships the Cylons had used during the first Cylon war.

The camera then zoomed in to show the Aires. The Mercury class Battlestar was under heavy attack from missiles and Cylon raiders, numerous fires could be seen burning through ruptures in the ship's hull. Its port landing bay had a massive hole in its center, probably from a nuke strike. Under this concentrated attack from the Cylons, she wouldn't last much longer.

"Dradis on line," Lt. Everson reported as Lt. Grimm fed him the Dradis data from the raptors. "Two Battlestars identified," he reported. "The Aires and the Jupiter class Battlestar Zander. I am also detecting sixteen civilian ships, mostly freighters and what appear to be several passenger liners, all are under heavy attack by Cylon raiders."

"What about vipers, how many of them are there?" Jason demanded as one of the icons representing a civilian freighter suddenly vanished.

"Less then a squadron sir," Lt. Everson replied counting the green icons on his Dradis screen.

"Frak," Major Dyson uttered. "Without viper support those civilian ships are doomed!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Jason replied. Flipping on the fleet com, he addressed the Commanders of all his ships. "We have what looks like three Cylon Basestars and two other Cylon Support ships attacking two Colonial Battlestars and a civilian fleet. Gunstar Lodestar and the two Kobolan escort ships will jump into position directly above the civilian fleet and assist. I want those Cylon raiders destroyed! The Titania, Zeus, Gunstars Searcher and Nebula will jump in directly behind the Cylon ships and engage. Searcher you will assist the Zeus, Nebula you will be with us. All ships prepare to jump in two minutes!"

The FTL drives on all the indicated ships quickly spun up. The two Colony ships and the Tylium freighter would remain behind. All three were armed and could handle a few Cylon raiders if necessary.

"Jump," Jason ordered as all the indicated ships FTL drives came on line.

Aboard the Battlestar Aires Commander Davis watched in horror as one of the passenger liners exploded in nuclear fire as another Cylon missile penetrated his meager defenses.

"Status," he barked as the Aires shuddered from another missile hit, which was becoming all too common. The damage control board was covered with red lights. Over twenty percent of the ship was currently open to vacuum. The port landing bay was also open to space after taking a direct hit from a large megaton nuke. Casualties were heavy and mounting.

"The Zander is almost done for," Major Strickland replied from his position on the opposite side of the operation's table. "I would order them to evacuate but there is no where for them to go!"

"What about our vipers?" Commander Davis asked knowing they had met the end of their journey. Their attempt to flee the Colonies had failed. The Cylons had caught them and penned them next to this nebula where they couldn't jump. His ships were dying one by one.

"Only fourteen left sir," Major Strickland replied as he checked the Dradis and the few green icons that remained amidst a host of red. "We lost most of them at Virgon."

"I have more contacts jumping in," the Dradis operator suddenly spoke loudly, her voice filled with concern and growing fright.

"More Cylons coming in to finish us off," Major Strickland stated feeling doomed. They wouldn't last long now, not with more Cylon ships.

"No sir," the Dradis operator exclaimed excitedly her voice suddenly jubilant. "They are transmitting Colonial IDs!"

"What the frak," Commander Davis said surprised. "Put them on the view screen!"

On the main view screen three Titan class Gunstars appeared, and one other ship of an unidentifiable class behind the Cylon fleet.

"Those are Titans!" Major Strickland exclaimed his eyes opening wide. "Those ships were never supposed to be built; where the frak did they come from?"

"I don't know Major," Commander Davis replied feeling hope at the sight of the new ships. "Get everyone off the Zander; we may just survive this yet."

On board the Titania, Jason watched intently as his ships maneuvered quickly to bring the Cylon ships into target lock.

"I have lock," Captain Edison reported from his tactical station.

"Nuclear ordinance authorized," Jason replied staring at the Cylon ships on the view screens. "Fire!"

"Vipers launching," Major Dyson reported as green icons suddenly began appearing on the Dradis moving away from all three Titans.

From the Titania four Hades missiles erupted from the bow missile tubes, all four targeted on the nearest Cylon Basestar.

"Turn 180 degrees to port," Jason ordered wanting to bring his Starboard missile tubes to bear. These could be ripple fired. They had caught the Cylons by surprise and he wanted to take full advantage of that before they could respond to the Colonial attack.

The four missiles flashed toward the Cylon Basestar powered by Kobolan boosters. In the distance the Zeus was firing also, she also fired their own versions of a Hades missile, but unlike the Titania her bow tubes could be ripple fired and already fourteen deadly nuclear missiles were accelerating toward the Cylon ship.

"Impact in six seconds," Captain Edison reported as he watched the missiles close on his Dradis screen, willing them to go on.

Jason watched the main view screen, which was fixed on the targeted Basestar. The Cylon Basestar managed to shoot down two of the missiles with her defensive batteries but the other two struck home. Two massive nuclear detonations smashed their way deep into the heart of the Cylon Basestar vaporizing everything they came into contact with. Moments later the Cylon Basestar blew up in a massive flaming explosion. It was quickly followed by the second Cylon Basestar targeted by the Zeus.

"Inbound Cylon raiders," Lt. Everson reported as red icons began closing on the Titans and the Zeus. "They are coming from the two saucer shaped Cylon ships. Estimate forty inbound and more still launching."

"Prepare to activate flak field," Major Dyson ordered as she watched the inbound raiders.

"Admiral use the defensive lasers," Specialist Anthon suggested from her position next to Lt. Grimm. "They can handle this, trust me!"

Jason hesitated only for a moment. "Very well, Major Dyson use the laser batteries, let's see what they are capable of, and keep the flak batteries on standby just in case."

Above the civilian fleet, the Lodestar was rapidly launching her vipers. The two Kobolan escort ships had already moved in and were using their laser batteries to blast Cylon raider after raider from space. The vipers soon joined in and the raiders began to die even faster.

"Holy frak did you see that," Major Strickland spoke stunned, looking at the remains of the two destroyed Cylon Basestars.

"Those small ships helping our civilians are using some type of laser!" Commander Davis added hardly believing what he was seeing. "Those nukes used by that Titan were clear off the board. The fleet didn't have those. There is something going on here!"

A huge explosion rocked the Aires, literally shoving her over on her side igniting even more fires and further damaging her port landing bay.

"That was the Zander," Major Strickland spoke with anger in his voice. "Those fraken Cylons managed to hit her with another nuke, she's gone!"

"What about the crew?" Commander Davis asked fearing the worst.

"We got some off, but not all," Major Strickland replied shaking his head knowing that a lot of good people had just died.

Aboard the Titania Jason grimaced as he watched the Zander explode in a cloud of fire and spreading debris.

In space, Captain Steele pressed the trigger on his twin cannons and another Cylon raider exploded under his fire.

"I got another," Emily's excited voice came over the com. "This is too easy!"

"Stay focused Emily," Aaron cautioned. "There are a lot of raiders out here; all it takes is one with a lucky shot."

Aaron looked at his small Dradis screen, quickly analyzing the situation. Between the three Gunstars, they had eighty four vipers engaged against nearly two hundred Cylon raiders. Almost two to one odds. The raiders had quit trying to attack the Titania after learning that her laser defense was nearly unpenetratable. Instead, they were focusing on defending the surviving Cylon Basestar and the two Support ships.

The last Cylon Basestar had pulled back to the two Cylon Support ships and was firing missiles non stop at the attacking Colonials. Heavy Cylon raiders were now exiting all three ships and Aaron was certain they were all armed with missiles. Some would definitely be nuclear.

Jason watched from the Titania as the Cylon raiders were now knocking down almost every missile he fired at the Cylon ships. Even ripple firing the Starboard missile tubes hadn't worked. Too many raiders were in the way.

"Frak, they're fast," Major Dyson muttered as two more Hades missiles failed to penetrate the raider screen.

Jason hesitated for a moment. "Specialist Anthon, will our energy screen hold if we move closer?" he asked thinking of a plan to take out the last Cylon Basestar.

"Depends on the nukes sir," she replied glancing over her shoulders at Jason. "It will stop most regular missiles and KEW rounds, but repeated strikes on the same location on the screen might penetrate. Also repeated nuke strikes could knock the screen down completely and even some of the energy from multiple nuke strikes might bleed through the screen even if it stays up."

"Activate energy screen and move us in," Jason ordered deciding on what they needed to do. The screen used a lot of energy and Jason preferred not to use it unless absolutely necessary. "Standby bow KEW batteries."

The Titania slowly moved toward the Cylon ships. The Gunstar Nebula trailed behind the Titania using her flak field to knock down the occasional Cylon missile. The Cylons were now targeting the Titania heavily and her energy screen was exploding in blue shrouds of energy as Cylon missiles struck. The Zeus had adapted the same tactic and was also advancing on the three Cylon ships with the Gunstar Searcher following at a safe distance. Vipers were still heavily engaged against the Cylon raiders.

"Energy screens!" Major Strickland exclaimed shocked, watching the combat on the main view screen of the Aires. "Where did they get energy screens?"

"More importantly where did those ships come from?" Commander Davis spoke softly. "Somehow I don't think they're from the Colonies."

"Then where?" Major Strickland asked looking confused.

"I would guess some type of secret secluded military research base," Commander Davis suggested. "It's the only thing that makes any sense."

Jason felt the Titania shudder slightly as a Cylon missile finally penetrated their energy screen and impacted on the ship's heavily armored hull. The new Kobolan armor shrugged off the strike with the hull barely blemished.

"The Nebula's been hit by a nuke!" Major Dyson reported as the report came across her mini com. "Starboard landing bay, it's a total wreck, they are also reporting heavy casualties, and several fires burning out of control."

"Frak," Jason replied. "Order her to fall back and designate a squadron of vipers to give her cover."

"The Zeus has been hit by a nuke!" Major Dyson continued with concern in her voice as she listened to the reports over her mini com. She paused for a moment as she listened. "Minor damage only, her fighting abilities are unimpaired.

"Optimum firing range for the KEW batteries," Captain Edison reported as his targeting computer showed confirmed target lock.

"Fire KEW batteries," Jason ordered as they entered critical firing range.

"Batteries locked and firing," Captain Edison replied activating the KEW batteries.

The ship shuddered slightly as the heavy rounds left the barrels of the huge bow KEW batteries. Round after round was fired. At twelve percent the speed of light, they impacted the Cylon Basestar.

On the main screen, they watched as the heavy KEW rounds impacted the Cylon Basestar. Huge explosions began appearing on her hull as the heavy rounds penetrated the Cylon ship's light armor. A series of explosions suddenly raced up one of the ship's arms and it exploded taking another arm with it. A heavy KEW round penetrated one of the Basestar's Tylium bunkers and a massive explosion blew out the center of the ship. Instantly secondary explosions raced through the Basestar's hull hurling huge pieces of metal into space. A second KEW round struck another Tylium bunker and the Basestar disappeared in a massive fireball.

In space, Aaron heard Emily scream for help. Frantically he looked over his right shoulder to where she was supposed to be, she wasn't there! Looking further down, he saw she was out of position with a Cylon raider closing on her tail.

"I'm coming Emily, just hold on," Aaron spoke gritting his teeth and hitting his turbos, he pushed his viper down in a tight dive and turn trying desperately to get there in time.

He could see the raider firing on Emily as she twisted and turned trying to shake him. Suddenly Emily's viper exploded and Aaron felt as if a knife had penetrated his heart. "No!" he screamed as he found the raider and filled it with rounds from his twin cannons causing the Cylon raider to explode in a ball of fire. He continued to fire venting his rage and frustration on the scattered pieces of the Cylon raider. Then realizing what he was doing, he stopped firing.

Aaron slowed his Viper and checked his Dradis hoping to see the blinking blue signal of an emergency ejection seat. "Please," he begged, his eyes glued to the screen, "not Emily!"

As he was about to give up hope a faint blue signal appeared. He quickly located it and nudged his viper forward to the indicated area on the screen. He finally saw the ejection seat floating in space in front of him. Moving his viper closer he saw Emily. A slight wave of her hand and Aaron knew she was all right. He signaled a SAR raptor on his com and then held his position protectively next to Emily.

On the Titania Jason watched the Dradis screen above the operation's table, as Cylon heavy raiders were now firing their missile in droves at the Colonial ship. The Zeus and Searcher were finishing off the two Cylon Support ships.

"Energy screen penetrated," Specialist Anthon warned suddenly, as three nukes went off against the screen in the same area. The screen glowed a bright blue and then faded.

Inside the Titania Jason gripped the operation's table, as he felt the ship shudder and vibrate as a Cylon nuke penetrated the weakened energy shield and impacted the ship's port armor.

Jason held tightly to the operation's table until the shaking stopped. "Ship status," he demanded shaken slightly.

"Minor damage only," Major Dyson replied with relief in her voice. "We have a couple of bent frames on the outer hull and several small internal fires. Nothing serious. Damage control reports they will have the fires under control shortly."

The view screen then switched to a view of the two Support ships just in time to see the Zeus wipe both of them from space with multiple nuke strikes. Moments later only a slowly expanding debris cloud surrounded by glowing burning gases remained.

The Gunstars, vipers, and the Zeus then turned on the surviving raiders and heavy raiders methodically blasting them from space. A few minutes later and the last Cylon raider was destroyed.

"All ships rendezvous with the Aires," Jason ordered over the fleet com, then turning toward Lt. Johnson. "Contact the Aries; I need to talk to their Commander." Also get a complete damage and casualty report from the Nebula."

Major Dyson check on our vipers, I want to know how many we lost and how many pilots," Jason continued feeling the adrenaline from the battle beginning to vanish from his body.

"What the frak is going on sir?" Major Dyson asked looking across the operation's table at Jason. "What are civilians and Cylons doing way out here?"

As they made rendezvous with the Aires, Jason received the damage report from the Nebula. The damaged landing bay was not repairable without a shipyard. The ship had lost one hundred and forty crewmen. Major Dyson also reported that the fleet had lost eighteen vipers and twelve pilots.

Jason had the two Colony ships and the Tylium tanker jump in, ordering the Gunstars to take up defensive positions around the surviving civilian fleet. He wanted to jump to another system as soon as it was safe to do so.

Two hours later, Jason sat stunned, feeling disbelief after listening to Commander Davis explain the disaster that had struck the Colonies. All twelve Colonies pretty much destroyed, all bases and shipyards either destroyed or heavily damaged, and the Colonial fleet wiped out.

"You were at the battle of Virgon with Admiral Nagala," Jason said quietly breaking the shocked silence in the conference room where Emissary Osiris, Commander Garrison, Commander Addison, and Captain Landers sat listening to Commander Davis explain the disaster that had over whelmed the Colonies.

"Yes," Commander Davis replied recalling the horrifying events of that battle. "We had gathered what remained of the fleet and purged our systems of the CNP program, which the Cylons were using to shut down our ships and vipers."

"This program was designed by Gaius Baltar the scientist," Commander Garrison said, he had met Gaius Baltar on several occasions when he had been attending fleet defense meetings on Caprica. Gaius Baltar had been the guest speaker at several of those meetings, giving insight into his new CNP program he was developing and why the fleet should use it.

"Yes, it was in wide use across the Colonies, every ship had the upgrade," Commander Davis replied. "We lost over thirty Battlestars and fifty Gunstars before we even realized that the CNP was the problem. By the time the High Command realized the CNP was the culprit and ordered all fleet ships to purge it from their systems, we had lost nearly sixty percent of the fleet. Many of the rest were heavily damaged and had lost the majority of their viper and raptor squadrons!"

"You say that Fleet Headquarters on Picon was destroyed early on," Jason spoke recalling his meeting with Admiral Corman. He couldn't believe that both Corman and Nagala were gone.

"Yes," Commander Davis replied his eyes taking on a haunted look. "All that remains is a giant hole in the ground, no one from the base survived."

"What about Virgon, what happened there?" Commander Addison asked. He had family on the planet. His brother's family lived on Virgon. His brother Jacob was in the Colonial marines.

We formed the fleet into a line between Virgon and her first moon," Commander Davis began, recalling Admiral Nagala's strategy. "We managed to get a lot of vipers from the Virgon defense forces to fill some of the depleted squadrons in our Battlestars. When the Cylons finally attacked nearly thirty percent of Virgon's defense grid was back on line."

"How many Cylon ships were at Virgon?" Jason asked wondering how large the Cylon fleet was that had attacked the Colonies.

"It was difficult to get an accurate count due to all the fighting and nukes going off," Commander Davis replied shuddering at the memory. "But the Atlantia reported that we were facing at least one hundred and thirty Basestars and seventy Support ships at the height of the battle."

"Why didn't Nagala withdraw?" Commander Garrison asked perplexed. "Surely he knew he couldn't beat those odds, not with the ships he had left to fight with!"

"He was defending some type of massive evacuation fleet that was assembling behind one of the moons," Commander Davis replied wondering what had happened to that fleet. "There were refugee ships from Leonis, Picon, and Virgon gathering behind the moon."

"Did they escape, where did they go?" Commander Addison asked. If they knew where they went perhaps they could find them and take them back to Demeter where they would be safe. He wondered if his brother's family might be on one of the ships.

"I don't know, I believe they jumped out at the last minute," Commander Davis replied. "We managed to hold back the Cylons for nearly six hours at Virgon before they finally over ran our line with massive raider attacks. Our vipers were out numbered a hundred to one, but they fought to the very end. In the last ten minutes of the battle, we had fewer then one hundred vipers still defending the fleet. When Admiral Nagala realized it was over, he ordered all ships that could still jump to get out. Only a few did, most were too heavily damaged, we were lucky."

"What about Virgon and the defense grid, did it hold?" Jason asked wondering if Virgon might still be resisting the Cylons.

"No," Commander Davis replied closing his eyes briefly remembering the sight on the Aires main view screen of massive nuclear explosion marching across the surface of the Colony. "The Cylons over whelmed the defense grid with an assault of over ten thousand raiders. Once the defense grid was down, their heavy raiders jumped into low orbit and began launching missiles at the planet."

"So you found these civilian ships and fled the Colonies," Jason continued realizing the horror the Commander had been through. To see Virgon nuked, the fleet wiped out, so many good men and women killed; it was hard to imagine going through something like that. Jason felt numb just from hearing about it.

"Yes, we started out with twenty eight civilian ships," Commander Davis replied. "The Cylons kept finding us, they finally pinned us up next to this nebula where we couldn't jump. If you hadn't shown up when you did, they would have finished us off. As it is only fourteen of the civilian ships we originally jumped with are still with us, and they are heavily overcrowded."

"I think we can alleviate that," Jason replied knowing they could transfer some of the civilians to the two Colony ships.

"Where did you come from Admiral?" Commander Davis asked wondering about the Titans and the battle cruiser that was accompanying them. "To the best of my knowledge no Titans were ever built, but you show up with three plus that unknown battle cruiser. What the frak is going on?"

"For the next hour Jason and the others explained to Commander Davis about Shadow Base, the Titania's mission, setting up the Demeter colony, and finally the existence of the Kobolans.

"Holy frak," Commander Davis replied amazed and relieved at the news. "If we can get these civilians to Demeter they will be safe, at least we have someplace to go."

"A low beeping in Jason's ear indicated that someone wanted to speak with him over his mini com. Jason reached up and tapped it turning it on.

"This is Specialist Anthon," the young woman's voice came over his com. "I have detected a sub space tracking signal coming from one of the civilian ships. That is how the Cylons were able to track the Aires and her fleet."

"Thank you Specialist Anthon," Jason spoke quietly, disturbed at the information. Then tapping his com again, he spoke to Major Dyson. "Major, send a squad of marines to the civilian ship that Specialist Anthon has detected the sub space tracking device on. I want that device neutralized ASAP."

Captain Steele was outside the ship's infirmary waiting for Emily to be released. Other then a few bumps and bruises the doctor said she was fine, he did recommend that she should be restricted from flying for the next forty hours.

Emily finally appeared looking sheepish when she saw Aaron waiting for her. "I guess I screwed up," she said with a tear in her eye. She felt as if she had let Aaron down.

Jason hugged her and then stepped back holding her at arm's length. "We all make mistakes Emily," he replied trying to smile. "We just have to learn from them; don't ever scare me like that again!"

Cynthia, Denise, Susan, and Karl were all still in the CIC at their duty posts talking to each other over a private com line.

"I heard that the Colonies have been destroyed!" Cynthia said sounding almost panicky.

"It was the Cylons," Karl replied, wondering what had happened to his family, what had happened to all their families for that matter?

"I wonder what we are going to do next?" Susan asked looking over at Denise who sat next to her.

"Demeter and Terra are still safe," Denise replied looking across the CIC at the others. "Perhaps we should return."

"I think the Admiral will want to continue on to Shadow Base," Karl spoke. "If the Cylons don't know about it, then the main Colonization fleet is still there waiting for us. We have to find out."

"Karl's right," Susan replied wondering if her family on Aquaria was still alive. "We need to rescue who ever we can, and those still at Shadow Base may be the only ones we can safely get out."

At Shadow Base Admiral Kronus stared worriedly at the main view screens in Shadow One's CIC. Everywhere was a frenzy of intense work being preformed. Ships being repaired, supplies being loaded, and the massive arming effort being done to Shadow One herself. Shadow One had always been heavily armed defensively but now work crews were installing medium twin KEW turrets all over the fifteen hundred meter hull as well as numerous missile tubes. He intended on turning the former shipyard into a massive Cylon killing machine.

"Admiral," Colonel Welling spoke interrupting the Admiral thoughts.

"Yes," Admiral Kronus replied turning to face his second in command.

"I just received a report from the Valkyrie," Colonel Welling continued grim faced. "The Cylons have found us; there are three Basestars and two Support ships that have taken up station twenty thousand kilometers in front of the Transit Corridor."

"I was afraid that would happen," Admiral Kronus replied with a heavy sigh. "We have been sending raptors out everywhere searching for survivors, it was only a matter of time before they traced one back to us."

"What do you want to do Admiral?" Colonel Welling asked, the Cylons now had them penned in.

"Order Admiral Muray to move his task group up to reinforce the Valkyrie." Admiral Kronus ordered thinking about the fleet ships he had at his disposal. The Cylons could not possibly know just how large a force he had, or how many civilians had actually made it to Shadow Base.

"What if the Cylons manage to break in, should we position some other ships on our side of the Transit Corridor?" Colonel Welling asked hoping the Titania made it back on time. The Cylons wouldn't wait forever.

"Have Admiral Reed move his four Valkyrie's, and the Battlestars Olympia, Dathym, and Holden to our side of the transit corridor to serve as a blocking force if the Cylons do attack and manage to break in," Admiral Kronus said walking over to the large operation's table and contemplating the ship deployments he was making. "I don't think the Cylons will try anything just yet, let's just wait and see what happens. The Titania should be returning in five more days."

Jason looked anxiously at the latest scans that raptors had taken of the nebula protecting Shadow Base. He felt concerned at what the scans were showing. The camouflage barrier was down! Sitting in the center of the Transit Corridor were two Warstars, two Firestars, the Valkyrie and another Valkyrie class Battlestar, two Assault Gunstars, two Defender class Gunstars, and three old Escort Gunstars. These were surrounded by eighty of the one hundred meter defense satellites.

"Where the frak did they get those old ships?" Major Dyson asked looking at a close up of one of the heavily armed and armored Warstars.

"From the Boneyards," Jason replied knowing that was the only place they could have come from. "All the old Firestars and Warstars were sent to the Boneyards for decommissioning years ago."

What concerned Jason were the ten Cylon Basestars and six Cylon Support ships that were stationed twenty thousand kilometers in front of the Transit Corridor. At least six squadrons of raiders were on patrol between the Cylons and the nebula. They were just outside the range of the defending Colonial fleet and the defense satellites. There was also no doubt that the Cylons had detected the raptors Jason had sent in to scan the area, there were just too many raiders for the raptors not to have been detected. That would reduce the element of surprise. Fortunately, the raptors had jumped far enough away from the Cylon ships so they could take their scans and then jump safely back.

"I'm glad to see those old Warstars," Jason replied, turning to face Major Dyson. "They were designed to kill Cylon Basestars."

He was also relieved that the heavily damaged Nebula and the two Kobolan escort ships had stayed behind to escort the Aires and her civilian fleet back to Demeter. The two Colony ships as well as the now empty Tylium tanker had also remained behind. The Colony ships had been filled with civilians from the over crowded freighter, and the Tylium tanker had been emptied refilling all the fuel bunkers in the fleet.

"Now the next question," Major Dyson spoke turning her attention back to the view screen, which now had a view of a Firestar displayed. "How do we get in?"

Admiral Kronus was on board the Warstar Nichen standing next to Admiral Muray. "Something's happening," he said as he saw two more Cylon Basestars jump into formation with the other ten.

"The Cylons have launched four more squadrons of raiders," the Dradis officer reported as more red icons appeared on his screen. "They have also deployed a squadron of heavy raiders that have taken up a position directly in front of the Cylon Basestars."

"It's the Titania," Admiral Kronus stated with conviction, examining the operation's table closely. "The Cylons know they're coming, they must have detected something."

"We thought we detected a raptor on the Dradis earlier," Admiral Muray stated thoughtfully as he also gazed at the operation's table, which showed the disposition of the Colonial and Cylon forces. "If it is the Titania, they will have to jump into this area here," he said pointing to an area approximately two thousand kilometers in front of the Corridor. It was an area full of Cylon raiders.

"Those heavy raiders, I bet they're armed with nukes," Admiral Kronus spoke worriedly. "Those heavy raiders will jump into the space around the Titania and her other ships and try to take them out with their missiles."

"I don't see what we can do Admiral," Admiral Muray said shaking his head aggravated at the helpless position they were in. "If we move the fleet out of the Transit Corridor we lose the protection of the defense satellites. We can't stand up to those Basestars and all their raiders for long without them!"

"Put all ships at Condition One," Admiral Kronus commanded his eyes taking on the look of steel. "As soon as we detect the Titania, launch all vipers and raptors. The fleet will also advance at full sub light speed. The survival of the Titania is a priority, even if it means the destruction of this fleet!"

"Yes sir," Admiral Muray replied as he began passing the orders. He had been briefed on the Titania's mission, and he well understood what was at stake. He was prepared to follow the Admiral's orders.

On board the Cylon Command Basestar, Darien Cavil stared with open contempt at the human ships guarding the entrance to the nebula in front of the Cylon fleet. He recognized the ships as the same ones he had faced at the Caspian system. Cavil knew a lot of civilian ships had gone inside. He had them cornered, they could not escape, and he would have his revenge for the resurrection procedure they had forced him to endure.

They had detected two raptors earlier, there was no doubt in his mind that more civilian survivors were on the way. He intended to trap those ships away from the nebula, forcing the human warships to come out to engage his fleet. Turning to one of the Simon models he said, "I want the fleet ready to advance when the human war fleet comes out. We will destroy them and end this farce once and for all."

The Simon model had his hands in the information stream listening to the fleet and the information being picked up by Cylon sensors. "We will be ready," he replied.

It was at that moment that the Titania, the Zeus, and the other two Titan class Gunstars appeared in the midst of the Cylon raiders.

"Frak, those are warships," Darien Cavil exclaimed surprised. He had been expecting civilians. Then he remembered the report that described these very ships wiping out the Cylon fleet that had been pursuing the Aires. "Order the heavy raiders to jump. Move the fleet forward, they must not escape!"

"Those ships are rumored to contain technology not currently associated with Colonial fleet ships," an eight spoke up, gazing at a large view screen that was focused on the area where the small Colonial fleet had jumped.

"I don't care," Darien roared in anger glaring at her. "I want them destroyed!"

Jason looked at the Dradis screen as it cleared, seeing they had jumped into a mass of raiders. "Launch vipers now," he ordered as he calculated how close the raiders were. "Searcher and Lodestar full sub light after vipers are clear, get to the Transit Corridor, we will cover you," Jason commanded over the fleet com.

Admiral Muray saw the four ships appear in flashes of white light. "All vipers launch," he roared over the com channel to the Firestars, Valkyrie's, and Defender class Gunstars. "I want those ships protected, take those raiders out!"

"Activate laser batteries," Jason ordered grimly. Frak there are a lot of raiders out there, he thought. Some were really close.

"Colonial fleet is launching vipers," Lt. Emerson reported as his Dradis screen began lighting up with green icons as vipers began exiting the Transit Corridor.

"That fourth ship, what is it?" Admiral Muray asked looking over at Admiral Kronus who was watching the view screen intently. The view screen showed a large heavily armed ship that he was not familiar with.

"I don't know," Admiral Kronus replied confused. "It's not one of ours, but she is obviously with the Titania."

It was at that moment that numerous beams of red light suddenly began flashing from the Titania and the other mysterious ship wiping Cylon raiders from the space around the four ships.

"What the frak!" Major Ash exclaimed in amazement. "Those are high intensity laser batteries. They're blasting the Cylons raiders."

"I thought effective lasers were outside our current technology level," Admiral Muray spoke looking at Admiral Kronus wondering if the Admiral had been leaving out sensitive information about these Titans.

"They didn't have lasers when they left here!" Admiral Kronus replied, amazed at what he was seeing on the screen. On the screen, all the vipers from the Titans had formed up and were protecting the Gunstar's Searcher and Lodestar, while the Titania and the mysterious ship trailed behind using their lasers to clear the space around them of Cylon raiders.

Suddenly Cylon heavy raiders began appearing in flashes of white light around the Titania and the mysterious ship. Numerous missiles launched, angling toward the two ships. Most were shot down by the lasers, but eight impacted the two ships. Three on the Titania and five on the Zeus. Both ships vanished from sight from the horrendous energy produced by the eight massive nuclear explosions.

"Frak, they got both of them," Admiral Muray said with anger in his voice. "There is no way those two ships survived those nuclear blasts!"

Everyone was surprised when both ships emerged from the explosions with a flickering blue glow surrounding them both.

"Great gods of Kobol!' Major Ash uttered in awe. "Both of those ships are protected by some type of energy screen."

"Hold the fleet," Admiral Kronus ordered. On the screens the Cylons were hesitating, not sure how to attack these two ships. Now the fleet vipers were arriving giving their added support to the Titans. Admiral Kronus relaxed as he realized that the four ships were gong to make it. The Cylons had missed their opportunity.

On board the Cylon Command Basestar, Darien Cavil raged about the Cylon Command Center. None of the other models would meet his eyes. "Lasers and energy screens," he screamed in anger and frustration. "Will somebody please tell me what the frak is going on?"

"I told you earlier they had advanced technology," the eight who had spoken earlier said meeting Darien's glare. "Those Titans either come from a secret military base we know nothing about or they have found some very powerful allies."

Darien turned back around staring at the large view screen. He would have to contact his brother's John and James about this. They had dismissed the earlier report about advanced weapons, evidently they had been mistaken. This was a new threat they would have to take very seriously and deal with appropriately.

On board the Titania Jason was getting up from the floor where he had been thrown from the nuclear blasts. "Damage report," he demanded catching his breath and looking around the CIC. Several others had been thrown around and were slowly picking themselves up from the floor of the CIC also.

"The shield held but just barely," Specialist Anthon reported from her position next to Lt. Grimm. Both looked a little wide eyed from the near miss of the nukes. "Some of the energy from the nukes still managed to penetrate."

"We have several fires in section twelve near frames eight through fourteen," Major Dyson reported scanning the damage control board where the damage control officer was busy sending damage control teams to different areas of the fleet. "We lost two of the laser turrets, three flak turrets, and the bow missile tubes are non functional. We also have a lot of minor injuries, broken arms, cuts, bruises, but no deaths!"

"The Zeus took two nuke strikes to her armor," Lt. Johnson reported as she monitored fleet communication. "They suffered several casualties and minor damage to some areas of the ship. Their fighting ability is unimpaired."

Two minutes later the fleet of four ships entered the Transit Corridor where the Colonial fleet now awaited.

"Message from Admiral Kronus sir," Lt. Johnson spoke up. "He says welcome home!"

Jason felt the tension flow out of him. They were safe for the time being, they had made it to Shadow Base. "Inform the Admiral, mission accomplished!" Now they just had to figure out how to get back to Demeter and safety.

_Author's note: One chapter left! I promise it will have several interesting surprises!_


	13. Chapter 13

Author's note: I know I said this would be the last chapter, but there were so many things that I wanted to cover that the chapter got too long. Therefore, I am dividing it into two chapters.

**Gunstar Titania**

**Cylon War!**

It had been four hours since the Titania and her fleet had entered the Transit Corridor and taken up station keeping off Shadow One's port side. Currently Jason and many others were in the main conference room of Shadow One undergoing a detailed debriefing. Besides Jason, the others in the room were Major Dyson, Captain Steele, Dr. Graystone, Commander Garrison, Emissary Osiris, Specialist Anthon, and Captain Landers from the Demeter fleet. From Shadow Base there were Admiral Kronus, Colonel Welling, General Abrams, Admiral Muray, Colonel Randle, Andrea Nagala, and Admiral Reed.

Admiral Kronus leaned back in his chair at the head of the table, shaking his head in amazement at the story that Admiral Stone and his people had carefully laid out for the spellbound group the last several hours. "It's amazing is all I can say," Admiral Kronus finally spoke. They had asked the Demeter group hundreds of questions once they realized the importance of what they were hearing. "Admiral Stone you have accomplished so much more then Admiral Corman, Admiral Nagala, and I could have possibly hoped for."

"The new technology you received from the Kobolans, the lasers, the new Tylium energizers, the force screen wouldn't have made any difference in the war with the Cylons," Admiral Muray commented knowing that Admiral Stone felt guilty about not getting the new technology back sooner.

"He's right Admiral," Admiral Kronus replied nodding his head in agreement. "It would have taken months to get the new technology implemented. Probably several years before the first ships rolled out of the shipyards. The Cylons would have still taken the Colonies."

"I am just pleased that we have a safe haven to go to," Andrea Nagala spoke. She had listened in amazement to Admiral Stone. This was her father's plan! His and Admiral Corman's. She was still adjusting to the fact that both were dead, particularly her father. However, thanks to him the survivors of the Caspian system now might be able to go to a new home.

"I still don't think we understand how the Colonies fell so quickly," Jason spoke knowing this was on the minds of everyone in his command. "We had over three hundred warships!"

Admiral Kronus was quiet for a moment contemplating what he needed to tell the assembled group, a few knew what he was about to say, some did not. "The Colonies were heavily infiltrated by Cylons over the last several years; they knew our fleet deployments, our strengths, our weaknesses, then of course there was the CNP!"

"How is that possible?" Commander Garrison asked surprised at the revelation. "How could we not spot Cylons?" He remembered the Cylons from the history books and museum displays, metallic with the single red eye moving slowly back and forth.

"There is a new type of Cylon," Admiral Kronus replied, his right hand rubbing his forehead as if he had a slight headache. "While they were gone they managed to create a new human form Cylon, which is indistinguishable from real humans. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of these human form Cylons infiltrated our Colonies and the fleet."

"They were everywhere," General Abrams said with a worried frown. "For months we have had reports of problems with computer systems all across the Twelve Worlds, even with some of the planetary defense mainframes. During the fleet battle with the Cylons, we have reports of airlocks on ships suddenly opening and killing the crews, mysterious explosions, and other acts of sabotage in our fleet as well as on the Colonies. It was widespread and well thought out, we never stood a chance."

"They infiltrated every level of the government and much of our military," Admiral Kronus continued looking slowly around at the assembled group. "Due to massive computer failures, blocked communications, false orders, and everything else you can imagine or initial response to the Cylon attack was very limited."

"And no one could tell they were Cylons?" Commander Garrison asked still not able to imaging such a thing.

"No, they acted and looked human, there was no way to tell the difference," General Abrams replied shaking his head.

"How do you know about these human form Cylons?" Emissary Osiris asked intrigued and horrified by the technology required to create such. He noticed Specialist Anthon lean forward listening carefully to every word about the Cylons.

General Abrams paused looking at Admiral Kronus who nodded his head. "We have nearly one hundred and seventeen of them being held captive here on Shadow One, or we did have," General Abrams said looking grimly around the group. "When they entered the nebula they were exposed to its radiation, which is harmful and eventually deadly to the silicate and neurological pathways of the Cylons, both organic and robotic. After being here for just a few hours, they fell sick with flue like symptoms. Many of then have already died and the rest are steadily getting worse, they won't survive much longer."

"We have identified six different models so far," Admiral Kronus continued, remembering the shock when he realized what they had discovered. "All of you will be furnished with detailed photos and descriptions. This also explains some of the mysterious deaths we have had here at Shadow Base over the last few years."

"We have learned from speaking to several, who were willing to talk, that death to them is not permanent, though to those inside this nebula it is, the radiation blocks their resurrection technology," General Abrams explained, still finding it hard to believe some of the information they had gleaned from their interrogations of the captive Cylons. "When a Cylon dies their mind is transferred to a new body that is waiting for them on what they call a Resurrection ship. To most Cylon's death is non existent!"

"By the Gods of Kobol," Commander Garrison spoke shocked not wanting to believe what he was hearing, this just kept getting worse and worse. It was like a fraken nightmare! "They would make deadly saboteurs; with no fear of death no act would be too brazen."

The room was silent for a minute as everyone absorbed the stunning information about the Cylons. Everyone knew just how lucky they had been that the radiation from the nebula, that Shadow One resided in, had protected the base from discovery by the Cylons over the years.

Jason felt a chill run through him as he realized a very real danger to Demeter. "The Aires fleet we rescued, we found a sub space tracking device on one of the freighters. There must be human form Cylons in that fleet and they are well on their way to Demeter!"

"I doubt if they will risk doing anything that might reveal their presence," Admiral Kronus spoke realizing that Admiral Stone was probably correct about Cylons being in the Aires fleet. "There is nothing we can do about them at the moment."

"How far does this resurrection thing work?" Commander Garrison asked worried that if one died while on Demeter, word would get back to the Cylons back on the Colonies.

"We're not sure, and I am not sure the Cylons are either," General Abrams responded recalling the interrogations he had conducted with the Cylon prisoners. "Most feel that a few dozen light years is the maximum for a successful download, any more then that and the download may not be complete and they will be boxed."

"Boxed, what the frak is that?" Commander Garrison asked realizing just how dangerous the Cylons had now become with this new resurrection technology. You could kill one a dozen light years away in battle and he would wake up on a resurrection ship ready to give a detailed report of how he died and what was occurring in the battle!

"When a Cylon dies and their download is corrupted their mind is boxed or stored until the problem can be sorted out," General Abrams replied.

"Emissary Osiris," Admiral Muray interrupted turning to look at the Kobolan Emissary. "I know we have all been wondering how your people will respond to this war with the Cylons. Will they be willing to help us?"

"From what you have told us, the Cylons have a tremendous fleet," Emissary Osiris spoke trying to choose the proper words, his eyes taking on a serious look. "Even with our advanced technology it is doubtful we have sufficient ships to retake your Colonies. I am afraid that all I can offer you for now is a safe haven on Demeter. We have built a defense grid around the planet that should protect your people from even the most vicious Cylon attack. Perhaps after a time my government might be willing to do something about the Colonies, but that will have to wait for future discussions."

"That was to be expected," Admiral Kronus replied not surprised by Emissary Osiris's response. "This is not your war and we appreciate the assistance that your people have given ours. Now I need to end this meeting, there is a lot that needs to be done and we don't have a lot of time. However I would like for Admiral Stone, Admiral Muray, Admiral Reed, and Emissary Osiris to remain."

"One more thing if I may," Emissary Osiris spoke up. Then turning to look at Specialist Anthon he continued. "Science Specialist Anthon is the daughter of our most revered scientist. Her father is brilliant. However, all of our tests indicate that Denise may someday surpass her father in her abilities. She already holds over a dozen advanced degrees in the sciences."

The Demeter group looked at each other in surprise. Now it made sense why Specialist Anthon had been included on this return trip back to the Colonies.

"I can't believe you risked someone of such importance on this mission," Jason interrupted stunned at realizing just how important Specialist Anthon must be to the Kobolans. Thinking back, he realized all the hints had been there, some of the comments and observations she had made and how quickly she had learned the Titania's systems.

"He father felt that a few years serving in the military would be good experience for her," Emissary Osiris replied with a gentle smile, he knew her father very well.

"My father said I needed discipline and the military would accomplish that," Specialist Anthon replied with a rueful smile. "If you would permit I would like to examine these human form Cylons. Perhaps I can think of a way to detect them. There has to be something in their systems to set them apart from ordinary humans."

"By all means," Admiral Kronus replied. "We have tried, but so far have been unsuccessful in coming up with a test that can reveal whether someone is a Cylon or a human. General Abrams would you please escort Specialist Anthon to the holding facility and make sure she gets everything she needs."

"I have some equipment on the Zeus that might be helpful," Denise said as she rose from her chair.

"If you will make me a list of what you need I will have it sent over on a shuttle," Captain Landers spoke; he had always known who she was and how important it was to see that she was well protected. There was a small lab on the Zeus that was full of special research equipment that Denise had insisted be brought with them. Much of it he had no idea as to what it did or why she had wanted it.

The room soon emptied except for the designated people. Admiral Kronus looked carefully at the four that remained. "What I am about to tell you is of the utmost importance and cannot be spoken about outside this room."

"We have been monitoring Cylon communications since the attack," he began. "Most of their communication is in code but some is in the clear." He paused looking at the small group. "We now know that the Battlestar Galactica survived with a small group of civilian ships."

"The Galactica!" Admiral Muray interrupted surprised. "How did that old Battlestar survive? She was due to be decommissioned and was not even armed."

"Commander Adama is extremely resourceful," Admiral Kronus replied with a slight smile. He had known Bill Adama for years. "The Galactica managed to get to Ragnar Anchorage and rearm; a civilian fleet rendezvoused with them there."

"Where are they?" Admiral Reed asked wondering if they could send a ship to get the Galactica and her fleet, perhaps set up a rendezvous. The more people they could take to Demeter the better.

"We don't know," Admiral Kronus replied shaking his head concerned hoping that Adama and his fleet were still safe. "All we know is that Adama managed to escape the Cylons after a brief battle at Ragnar and has jumped his fleet out towards the Promar Sector. The Cylons are searching for the Galactica and her fleet but so far have been unable to locate them."

"What about other ships, are there more survivors?" Jason asked wondering how many others might be on the run. There were over three hundred warships in the Colonial fleet; surely not all of them had been destroyed.

"Perhaps a few," Admiral Kronus replied his eyes taking on a strange haunted look. "Something else you need to know. The Cylons did not totally wipe out the Colonies; there are still millions of people alive on the Twelve Worlds."

"Millions!" Admiral Reed echoed surprised at Admiral Kronus's statement. "How, I thought the Cylons nuked the Colonies?"

"They did," Admiral Kronus answered recalling the photos of destroyed and leveled cities taken by the raptors he had sent out on recon missions. "But they only nuked the military bases and the major cities, many of the less populated outlying areas were left alone. There were over fifty billion people on the Colonies; it would be very difficult to wipe out everyone. "

"Is there anything we can do?" Admiral Reed asked imagining the horror the survivors must be suffering through. By now, the Cylons would have landed their Centurions on the ground. Unarmed civilians wouldn't last long against an armed Centurion, it would be a slaughter!

"No, we just don't have the strength to take back a Colony and hold it," Admiral Kronus replied shaking his head, this was something that had been weighing heavily on his mind. "At least not long enough to make a difference."

"So they are doomed," Admiral Muray spoke wishing they could do something, mount some type of rescue mission. They had marines, quite a few of them, but even he couldn't see how it could be done, not without suffering more casualties and ship losses then they could afford.

"Perhaps not," Admiral Kronus replied surprisingly his eyes taking on a far a way look. "There is one other Colonial military secret that I have not revealed to you." He paused taking a deep breath. This secret was even more classified then Shadow Base. "A number of years ago Admirals Corman, Nagala, and Clements created a plan to insure the survival of our Colonies if the Cylons ever managed to achieve victory over us. The plan assumed a doomsday scenario. "

"I don't understand," Admiral Reed replied feeling confused. "Admirals Corman and Nagala are dead, and Caprica Station was destroyed so Admiral Clements has to be dead also. Whatever this plan was it died with them!"

"No, I don't believe that Admiral Clements died," Admiral Kronus replied with a mysterious knowing smile. "The plan the three came up with involved certain Colonial assets and I have sent raptors and a Gunstar to check. All the assets in the plan are missing! The Cylons never found or destroyed them!"

"What assets?" Jason asked wondering just what this plan was. Admiral Clements was third in command of the entire Colonial fleet. The Cylons would not want an Admiral of his rank and ability to survive. As long as Admiral Clements lived, he would be a serious danger to the Cylons and their plans.

Admiral Kronus looked at the four. "Four supply stations equipped with FTL drives are missing, the mining colony Sidon is missing, and the Nexus mobile shipyard is gone."

"The Sidon, that thing is huge!" Admiral Muray replied recalling what he knew about it. From what he remembered, the Sidon was a huge hollow asteroid nearly thirty kilometers long equipped with enough FTL drives to allow them to make short FTL jumps from star system to star system for their mining operations. "I don't understand why the Sidon was included. What good will a few thousand minors do?"

Admiral Kronus looked at the group. "Because the Sidon is not just a simple mining Colony. It is also a fully equipped major fleet base and very heavily armed. The Sidon is perfectly capable of managing a war against the Cylons with a military and civilian population of over 250,000 people!"

"250,000 people," Jason replied amazed. He had never been out to the Sidon but he had heard of it. The mining colony moved from system to system looking for valuable resources they could mine and sell to the colonies. If he remembered correctly, several Defender class Gunstars were assigned to the mining colony to protect it from pirate attacks.

"The Boneyards," Admiral Muray said with sudden dawning realization recalling the brief amount of time he had spent there picking up the ships of his fleet. "There were a lot of old warships that were being kept operational, were those ships part of this plan?"

"Yes," Admiral Kronus replied not surprised that Admiral Muray had noticed that. "Those ships did not have full crews' only caretaker crews, but hopefully Admiral Clements had the necessary crews from Caprica Station to man those ships and take them from the Boneyards."

"So Admiral Clements may have a full war fleet at his disposal," Admiral Muray commented. "There were a lot of Warstars and Firestars at the boneyards; if he managed to get away with a number of them he could cause the Cylons a lot of trouble!"

"How do you know that Admiral Clements survived?" Jason asked taking in all this new information. "From the reports I have heard Caprica Station was destroyed."

"Yes," Admiral Kronus replied nodding his head in agreement. "But we managed to get a raptor close enough to take some detailed scans. I believe that Admiral Clements himself destroyed Caprica Station. All evidence indicates that the station was destroyed from within not by a Cylon attack."

Everyone was silent for several moments then Emissary Osiris spoke. "Even if this Admiral of yours escaped, it may be awhile before he is ready to make a move against the Cylons? He will have to set up a secure base of operations, perhaps update the ships he has, and train crews for them."

Yes," Admiral Kronus replied knowing that if Admiral Clements did survive, as he believed, then Admiral Clements had a huge task before him. "It may be several years before Admiral Clements is ready to strike. One other thing we know, Admiral Nagala was assembling and protecting a very large civilian fleet from Leonis, Virgon, and Picon. I believe these ships may very well have rendezvoused with Admiral Clements. If they did, he has a very large civilian and military population at his disposal. Much larger then what the plan originally called for."

"Where can he possibly go?" Admiral Reed asked wondering what Admiral Clements could do and how he could keep so many civilians safe. The Cylons would doubtlessly be searching for this large civilian fleet. They had to know that the ships escaped.

"There supposedly is a world shielded by a radiation cloud that Admiral Clements is aware of," Admiral Nagala continued remembering his conversation with Admiral Corman about this. "Only Admiral Clements and a few others, including the Commander of the Sidon, know its coordinates. If he can make it there, he should be safe."

"And you don't know its coordinates?" Admiral Reed asked wondering if they could send a message to Admiral Clements.

"No, I don't," Admiral Kronus replied truthfully. "It was considered safer that way, I had my own orders, orders to set up this new colony as a fail safe. We just weren't expecting this Cylon attack to occur so soon or so massively."

"If he makes it then he will have a place to rebuild," Admiral Muray stated thoughtfully. "He has the shipyard and the Sidon colony, which gives him a heavy manufacturing plant that can produce almost anything. The Nexus shipyard has the capabilities to produce a Mercury class Battlestar if they can find the raw materials."

"I noticed a lot of new ships out there and an awful lot of civilian ships," Jason commented recalling all the ships he had noticed on the Titania's view screens and Dradis screen. "How are we going to get them out of the nebula?"

"A number of survivors made it here," Admiral Kronus answered, he had been wondering about the same thing. "Admiral Nagala sent the Battlestars Dathym and Holden to bring the Caspian survivors here. The Valkyrie rescued survivors from the Sagittarian shipyards. We also managed to find another eighteen civilian ships by sending out raptors immediately after the attack. There are also the new Colony fleet as well as the ships of Shadow Base," he paused looking at the small group his eyes narrowing. "We have nearly 400,000 people and over two hundred ships we need to get out of here safely."

"Holy frak," Admiral Muray spoke leaning back in his chair surprised at the number. "How can we ever get that many ships safely down the Transit Corridor and out a safe distance to jump? The Cylons will be all over us!

"We have thirty warships to protect them with plus Shadow One herself," Admiral Kronus informed them. "The Cylons are not aware of the forces we have at our disposal. We must get these civilians away to safety. Their best chance of survival will be on Demeter. I have a tentative plan and here is what I propose we do."

They spoke for another hour working out what everyone's responsibilities would be, suggesting changes where needed, and then deciding what parts needed more study and planning. This was going to be a big operation. Then Admiral Kronus told them to return to their ships and study what had been proposed, if they felt any additional changes needed to be made they would discuss them tomorrow. He then dismissed everyone except for Admiral Reed. He also told Emissary Osiris he would like to meet with him privately later that evening.

"Admiral I don't know how to tell you this but you and your fleet will not be accompanying us to Demeter," Admiral Kronus began looking Admiral Reed steadily in the eyes. "If Admiral Clements is to have any chance of ever retaking our Colonies then there is something I must ask you to do."

"The Cylon shipyards," Admiral Reed replied guessing where the Admiral was going. "You want us to take those out." Admiral Reed knew that it made a lot of tactical sense, even though he didn't like what it might entail.

"Yes Admiral," Admiral Kronus replied wishing he could think of some other method to take out the shipyards. "The Cylons don't know we found them. If you can take out the four shipyards outside the Cylon home system and the mining operations you discovered, we can set back their shipbuilding capability considerably. Perhaps give Admiral Clements a better chance to retake our worlds someday."

Admiral Reed was silent for a long moment knowing that this was almost assuredly a suicide mission. He doubted that any of his ships would survive taking out all four shipyards. Once the Cylons realized what he was doing, the resistance at each new attack on a shipyard would grow. Even if they did manage to survive and that was a very big if, they could never make it to Demeter. Not with the damage they were bound to suffer.

"I am assigning the Silent Seeker, all four of your Valkyrie's, two Defender class Gunstars, a fleet Supply ship, and a Tylium tanker to your task group," Admiral Kronus continued. "I am also going to give you a set of coordinates, if you survive, these coordinates will allow you to get in touch with Admiral Clements."

Admiral Reed was silent for a moment. So Admiral Kronus did know how to contact Admiral Clements, he wondered why the Admiral had not revealed this surprising fact to the others. At least it gave his ships a glimmer of hope if they did manage to survive.

Guessing his thoughts Admiral Kronus continued, "We didn't want all of our eggs in one basket Admiral. This way we assure the survival of our people. Between Admiral Clements and Admiral Stone, our people will survive. I was telling the truth about not knowing the location of this world he is going to, but I do know how to contact him. Make your battle plans and meet me tomorrow. We will discuss what you have come up with and also inform the other Admirals that you will not be coming with us."

Admiral Reed stood and saluted. "We won't let you down sir. We will take out their shipyards!"

On the Titania Susan was slowly changing the view screen putting up different ships as she located them.

"That's a Construct Star," Karl spoke over their private com looking at the massive ship currently on the screen. "It's a mobile drydock that can repair damage to a ship; it can also build additional warships. They haven't been used in years; I wonder where Admiral Kronus found that one?"

"There are two of them," Cynthia commented, from what I have heard over the coms there are numerous freighters, passenger liners, mining ships, Tylium tankers, and almost every other type of ship you can imagine here inside the nebula."

Susan changed the image again showing one of the large super Colony ships.

"That ship holds over five thousand colonists," she commented. "There are ten of them and each one is capable of setting up a complete colony."

"It's also heavily armed," Karl added looking at all the defensive turrets and several medium KEW turrets that he could see on the ship's hull. He knew that all the ships on the larger Colony fleet were armed, just as the original Colony fleet had been.

Another change of the view screen and the Jupiter class Battlestar Olympia appeared on the screen.

"I am glad to see that Battlestar," Karl commented gazing at the massive Battlestar. "She has a lot of firepower; I just wish we had a Mercury or two."

"We're gong to have to fight our way out, aren't we?" Cynthia spoke quietly nervous about the up coming battle. She knew that the Cylons would be waiting for them.

"Yes," Karl replied after a moment. "But I am sure that between Admiral Stone and Admiral Kronus they will figure a way out."

The three were quiet while Susan continued to look at the different ships. This fleet was really large; she just didn't see how they could get all of them safely out and back to Demeter, not with the Cylons outside the nebula waiting for them.

Karl was lost in his own thoughts. There would be no surprising the Cylons this time, not like they had when they rescued the Aires fleet or arrived here at the nebula. No, the Cylons would be ready and Karl knew that it was going to be one frak of a battle.

Cynthia stopped looking at the screen and went back to listening to the communications between the different ships. She just prayed that all of her friends survived the next few days, but she was deathly afraid that some might not.

Two days later, all the plans were finalized and it was time to go. Admiral Kronus stood in the CIC of Shadow One contemplating what they were about to do. All the stations were fully manned and four heavily armed marines stood at the heavy armored door that allowed entrance to the CIC.

The huge thickly armored fifteen hundred meter sphere of Shadow One was now fully armed and had four times the firepower of a Mercury class Battlestar. The only thing it lacked was heavy KEW batteries, but that weakness was more then made up by the numerous medium KEW turrets and multiple missile tubes that Shadow One now possessed. Over two hundred of the twin rapid firing defensive turrets dotted her hull. Six tugs were anchored to Shadow One furnishing a reasonable forward momentum. Shadow One had auxiliary thrusters but these were primarily used for station keeping and slow predetermined movements.

Admiral Kronus and his Admirals had come up with a simple battle plan. Shadow One would lead the attack holding the center of their formation. They would force the Cylons to engage the Colonial heavy units while the civilians jumped to safety.

On the port side of Shadow One, Admiral Muray would lead his force of two Warstars, two Firestars, four Assault class Gunstars, three Support class Gunstars, and one Defender class Gunstar. They would form a diamond defensive formation with one point anchored near Shadow One.

On Shadow One's starboard side, Commander Andrea Kross would lead her force of one Jupiter Class Battlestar, two Valkyrie Class Battlestars, and two Columbia 2 Class Battlestars. They too would be in a diamond defensive formation with one point anchored near Shadow One.

Escorting the Civilian fleet would be Admiral Stone with the Titania and six other Titan Class Gunstars. Admiral Kronus had constructed four more to travel with the second Colony fleet, and Admiral Stone now was in command of the Titan class Gunstars Eros, Erebus, Pontus, and Thalassa as well as the Searcher and Lodestar.

The Zeus would jump with the first ships. It had been decided that the ten super Colony ships would jump first. The reason being that they were all heavily armed and a squadron of vipers had been placed in the landing bays of each. That would give the civilians protection if needed until the warships could jump.

Darien Cavil watched in anticipation as he saw the Colonials finally leaving their bolthole. John, James, and he had come up with a simple yet elegant plan to deal with the Colonials. They would destroy the human warships, allowing most of the civilian ships to escape. These would be followed and allowed to lead them to wherever those Titans had come from earlier. The technology the larger Titan had demonstrated as well as the strange battle cruiser, demanded that the Cylons discover their point of origin. If it was another hidden human colony, they would destroy it ending the human menace once and for all!

Admiral Kronus watched his screens carefully as Shadow One exited the Transit Corridor. They were quickly followed by the other two fleets, which took up screening positions on either side as planned. Three thousand kilometers from the nebula, that's where they would make their stand. "All ships go to Condition One and standby to launch vipers," he ordered through the fleet com. For the first time since the first Cylon war Admiral Kronus was going back to war!

Admiral Muray and Major Ash stood at the operation's table on board the Warstar Nichen watching the Dradis screen closely. "I count fourteen Basestars and six of their Support ships," Major Ash reported as he read the information downloaded to his computer screen from the Dradis. "That's going to mean one fraking lot of raiders. Admiral Stone is going to have to watch out for heavy raiders jumping in on top of the civilians once this starts!"

"He has seven Titan class Gunstars and enough vipers and raptors to cover the civilian fleet," Admiral Muray replied as his fleet positioned itself to the port side of Shadow One and spread out in a thin defensive line in the form of a diamond with the Nichen in the center. "It will take a heavy raider approximately twenty seconds to lock a missile on target after a jump, that's how long Admiral Stone has to kill it!"

Commander Kross watched closely as her five Battlestars took up position on Shadow One's starboard side spreading out in their diamond defensive formation, the Battlestar Olympia was in the center and her ship the Valkyrie anchored the point nearest Shadow One. She had been given command because she was senior to the other Commanders, and both Admiral Stone and Admiral Reed had other assignments. She could have transferred to the Olympia but she preferred to command from her own ship with a CIC crew she was familiar with.

Darien Cavil stared with anger at the view screen, which was focused on a Jupiter class Battlestar. "Where the frak did that come from?" he demanded angrily turning to face an eight who was standing directly behind him.

"It's the Olympia, it was supposedly destroyed at the Sagittarian shipyards," the eight replied defensively taking a step back away from Darien. "All of our reports indicate that the Battlestars in dock were destroyed in the first wave of our attack."

"Just like those two Columbia Two's," Darien snarled back, his eyes glaring and pointing at a view screen that showed the two Columbia two class Battlestars. "They have five undamaged Battlestars plus those two Warstars, and that does not include the Titans which have yet to make an appearance!"

"We still have a numerical advantage in our raiders," a Simon model spoke up taking his hands out of the information stream and turning to face Darien. "We have over six thousand raiders we can hit them with; it will be just like it was with Admiral Nagala. We will overwhelm them and destroy them!"

"I would suggest caution," a six model in her red slinky dress spoke up walking into the control center. "The Basestar's hybrid is speaking in even more riddles then normal. All may not be as it seems. There is some danger here we are missing!"

"Silence," Darien replied frustrated with the sixes. They were very good at spying and manipulating human males, but as far as strategy, he and his fellow ones had serious doubts. They also listened to the fraken hybrids to much. There was no reasoning in the hybrids words, there never was.

"Launch our raiders!" Darien ordered loudly, this was the largest known group of surviving warships and civilians outside of the Colonies and he was going to destroy them. This group of survivors was even larger then the group with the Galactica. "I want those Colonial warships destroyed! I want this human pest annihilated!" Darien spoke with unbridled fire in his eyes.

The six only looked on; she had a feeling of impending doom, why couldn't the hybrids make more sense!"

Admiral Kronus watched on his main Dradis screen as hundreds of red contacts began exiting the Cylon ships. They were launching their raider squadrons. It was beginning!

"They are launching raiders," Colonel Welling reported as his computer screen began counting the number of raiders being launched as the Dradis downloaded the information.

"Very well, order all ships to launch their vipers and raptors and send a message to Admiral Stone to commence civilian evacuation." Admiral Kronus ordered knowing sadly that a lot of good people were about to die.

On the Dradis and view screens, Admiral Kronus watched as nearly nine hundred vipers started launching from the warships of the fleet. He had overloaded all the launching bays of all his ships as well as Shadow One. Shadow One was in the process of launching nearly two hundred vipers from her own bays. In addition, there were close to one hundred and twenty raptors equipped with interceptor missiles that would reinforce the vipers.

Jason began bringing his fleet out of the Transit Corridor. The Titania and Zeus led the way followed by the civilians who were screened by the other six Titans. Already the Titans were launching their vipers and raptors into a defensive screen around the emerging civilian fleet. Two hundred and sixty four vipers began taking up defensive positions reinforced by eighty eight raptors armed with interceptors. The raptors were spaced to be able to launch a missile at any heavy raider that might jump in too close to the civilians. The vipers would take care of the rest as well as the defensive turrets from the Titans.

"The Cylons ships are launching their raiders," Major Dyson reported as she watched the steadily growing mass of red icons forming up in front of Admiral Kronus's fleet.

"We need to watch out for their heavy raiders," Jason replied looking up at the Dradis screen. "They will be armed with nukes and our civilians don't have heavy armor on their hulls, a single nuke strike could take one out."

Darien Cavil watched his screens intensely as his raiders neared the human line of warships. "They have more vipers and raptors then they should have," he stated accusingly looking at the Simon model who had spoken earlier.

"They must have put extra vipers and raptors in their bays," the Simon model spoke defensively not meeting Darien's angry eyes. "We still have a seven to one advantage, they can't win!"

The six only nodded her head as she watched, surprise after surprise from these humans. She wondered what would be next!

"Move our Basestars forward and engage the human warships; we will use our missiles to destroy this human filth!" Darien ordered turning back around to look at the view screens which showed the raiders and vipers were about to become engaged. Then almost as an after thought, "launch our heavy raiders, their targets are the Titans, not the civilian ships."

Jason breathed easier as his ships reached their position, nearly fifteen hundred kilometers from the Transit Corridor. As he watched, the Zeus and the ten super Colony ships all jumped. The rest of the second Colony fleet soon followed. That gave him a lot of firepower at the rendezvous coordinates as the entire Colony fleet was armed to some extent. However, many of the other civilian ships had yet to exit the Transit Corridor and none of these were armed. From the time of the first jump, it would take nearly twenty two minutes to get all two hundred and ten civilian ships to safety. The eighty defensive satellites would cover the fleet out to nearly one thousand kilometers. Jason had to insure their safety the last five hundred.

Captain Steele turned his viper in a tight curve with Emily on his right side and slightly below, the rest of his squadron of twenty two vipers followed in a staggered formation. "All right everyone," he began over the squadron com as they began to spread out in their defensive zone above the emerging civilian fleet. "We have some civilians to keep safe today as well as our warships, stay with your wing mate and don't play the hero. With any luck we will be safely back aboard the Titania in twenty minutes or so."

"It's the heavy raiders we have to worry about isn't it?" Emily spoke worriedly. "The Admiral said we have twenty seconds to kill the raider after its jump, if we don't they will begin launching missiles at the fleet."

"Yes," Captain Steele replied wanting everyone to understand. "We have twenty seconds, make it count! Every nuke they launch could take out a civilian!"

Admiral Kronus watched anxiously on the main view screen as his vipers and the Cylon wall of raiders collided. Instantly space became crowded with small explosions and interceptor missile tracks. Colonial Warriors had begun to die!

"Vipers engaged," Colonel Welling reported as he scanned the incoming reports as well as listening to the squadron commanders on his min com. "They out number us about seven to one sir."

"Their Colonial Warriors, they will do their job," Admiral Kronus replied knowing the caliber of the young men and women who crewed those vipers. He still grimaced though whenever he saw on of those brave green icons disappear from the main Dradis screen. Command was never easy, especially when you had to send people to their deaths!

Colonel Welling smiled knowingly to himself. They hadn't referred to viper pilots as Colonial Warriors since the first Cylon war. A war Admiral Kronus had fought in.

"All ships stand by flak screens," Admiral Kronus ordered as he saw some of the raiders were beginning to break through. Frak there were just so many of them he thought. He wondered if this was how Admiral Nagala had felt at the Battle of Virgon when the raiders had overwhelmed his defenses. "Initiate at your own discretion."

Darien Cavil watched pleased as he saw his raiders beginning to break through the Colonial viper screen. His raiders were taking heavy losses but he had the raiders to lose. The Colonials could ill afford to take heavy viper losses at this stage of the battle. His Basestars were advancing slowly giving the raiders a chance to annihilate the human vipers.

"All of our heavy raiders have been launched and are ready to attack the Titans," one of the eights reported from where she stood with her hands in the information stream monitoring the launching bays. "All are armed with two ten megaton nukes and will fire as soon as they have target lock on their assigned targets."

"Excellent," Darien breathed pleased. The Colonials would be expecting him to attack the civilian ships, not the Titans. "Begin the attack!"

The eight nodded and on the main view screen, the squadrons of heavy raiders began jumping away toward their intended targets.

Jason looked up at the Dradis screen as a warning tone sounded. Red icons began to appear suddenly all around the fleet, but not where he expected. With sudden concern, he realized what the Cylons were trying to do. Their squadrons were appearing around his warships, around the Titans! "All ships activate flak screens," he ordered quickly over the fleet com. "All viper and raptor squadrons the Cylon's targets are not the civilians, they are the Titans, I repeat the Cylon targets are the Titans!"

"Most of our vipers and raptors are out of position to support the Titans," Major Dyson spoke worriedly as multiple red icons were appearing all around them. "The Cylons are going to be able to fire a lot of their missiles!"

Captain Steele heard the warning over his com and switched to the fleet frequency where all viper and raptor squadrons could hear him. "Vipers go to turbos and hit those heavy raiders; raptors fire interceptors at extreme range. We have only twenty seconds before nuclear fire strikes our ships!"

Aaron hit his turbo causing his viper to leap forward; he cursed the fact that the Cylons had tried this gambit. No one had expected them to try to take out the warships first; they had all expected the civilians to be the main target. He rapidly closed on a heavy raider and pulled the trigger on his twin cannons, the raider exploded in a ball of crimson fire. He saw other raiders meeting the same fate. On his Dradis screen, he saw numerous missiles from the raptors striking heavy raiders. The raiders were not even trying to defend themselves; they were trying to get target lock! Red icons were disappearing very rapidly. Looking out of his cockpit window, he could see space littered with fiery explosions, but not enough. Then the twenty seconds were up!"

"There are too many of them," Emily cried in fear over her com. "They're firing!"

"All raptors target the Cylon missiles with your interceptors, vipers take out as many of those missiles as you can," Aaron ordered as his Dradis screen became covered with missile tracks. Frak there were a lot of them!

"Vampire, Vampire," Lt. Emerson spoke loudly in the Titania CIC. "Multiple inbound missile tracks targeted on all Titans!"

"Frak," Major Dyson spoke worriedly looking over at Jason. "Those heavy raiders are just to fraken close, too many have fired their missiles, we are going to take some losses!"

"Fight your ship Major," Jason replied as he looked at the Dradis screen, which was becoming lit up with numerous inbound missiles. Frak there were a lot of missiles. Some of them were bound to strike the Titans!"

"Activate laser batteries," Major Dyson ordered watching the Dradis screen closely. "Flak batteries on standby!"

Eighteen Cylon nuclear missiles targeted the Titan class Gunstar Pontus, a raptor managed to shoot two of the missiles down at the last second, the ships rapidly firing flak batteries took out twelve more but the other four impacted the valiant ship. The starboard landing bay was smashed by one powerful ten megaton nuclear blast then torn completely away by the second impacting missile as a ball of raging nuclear fire appeared where the landing bay had been. Two others struck side by side on the upper hull penetrating to the Tylium bunkers deep within the Gunstar. With a massive fiery explosion, the Gunstar Pontus disintegrated.

Jason watched in horror as Cylon nuclear missiles ravaged his fleet, many were intercepted by interceptor missiles and the flak fields of the Titans, but others penetrated and struck the gallant ships.

The Titan class Gunstars Thalassa and Searcher also met the same fate as the Pontus as multiple nuclear missiles penetrated their flak screens sending them to a fiery death. Only slowly expanding fields of burning gas and debris marked their destruction.

"Report," Jason demanded with a sickening feeling in his stomach as he felt the Titania shudder as another nuclear missile penetrated her laser batteries defenses and weakened energy screen to strike the heavily armored hull. They had taken eight nuke strikes to the energy screen and three to the ships hull. Then everything was quiet as the laser batteries destroyed the last incoming missile.

"We've lost the Pontus, the Thalassa, and the Searcher," Major Dyson reported feeling stunned. She couldn't believe the Searcher was gone.

"The Loadstar reports only light damage, the Eros and Erebus are reporting moderate damage but they are still operational." Major Dyson paused as she checked some additional information and then asked several questions over her mini com. "We also lost some civilian ships from nukes that missed the Titans and relocked on the civilians, nukes took out four civilian freighters, one passenger liner, and one Tylium tanker."

"What about the Cylon heavy raiders, how many did we get," Jason wanted to make sure they couldn't try this tactic again. He looked around at the CIC crew; everyone seemed to be in shock over what had just happened. The view screens had shown the deaths of several of their companion Gunstars in cruel detail as nuclear fire rolled over them.

Major Dyson paused a moment as she checked the information on her computer screen. "We managed to get three hundred and twelve of them before they got target lock, our vipers managed to take out another one hundred and sixteen while they were launching on the Titans. We got another eighty seven as they were preparing to jump away. Approximately three hundred got away sir. The raptors and vipers managed to shoot down about half the inbound missiles!"

"Frak," Jason muttered disappointed and concerned. "That means they will be back. "Land the raptors and rearm them with more interceptors, let's hope the civilians have all jumped before they return. What about our own damage?"

Major Dyson walked over to the damage control consul speaking with the officer in charge, and then turned back to Jason. "We suffered some damage from the nuke strikes. We lost two laser turrets and four flak turrets. We have several bent frames under the armor and possibly a crack in the armor in section twelve frame eighteen. The port landing bay is without power but it should be restored in about ten minutes. We have several small fires in a storage room, which should be under control shortly. We also suffered a number of electrical shorts in equipment throughout the ship."

Admiral Kronus looked at the Dradis screen worriedly. The Cylons had hit Admiral Stone's Gunstars hard. They still had twelve minutes to go in the evacuation. He could order Admiral Reed to bring his four Valkyrie's and his two Defender class Gunstars forward to reinforce Admiral Stone's battered force. But he dare not risk any damage to those four Valkyries. Their stealth shielding had to stay unblemished. It was their best chance to be able to successfully attack the Cylon shipyards. He reached a decision that he knew had to be made if Admiral Stone and the civilians were to survive and allow Admiral Reed time to embark on his mission. "Colonel Welling, order all ships to advance on the Cylon Basestars, engage at will!"

Darien Cavil looked at the large Dradis screen with rampant satisfaction. His heavy raiders had taken out three of the new Gunstars and damaged several of the others. If he could rearm his heavy raiders and launch another attack before they jumped, he felt sure he could take out several more if not all of them.

"The Colonial fleet is advancing towards us," one of the eights reported with surprise in her voice. "They are pushing through our raiders and will soon be in weapon's range."

Darien looked at the main view screen in anger. How dare these pitiful humans challenge him! "Order the Support ships to stay back so they can rearm the heavy raiders, all Basestars are to advance and destroy the human war fleet!"

The six only looked on and shook her head, the Cavil models all seemed to want to rush into things without thinking. She was surprised The Plan had succeeded as well as it did with the Cavils in charge. She still wondered about the last words she heard the Hybrid speak. "Beware the coming of the old one; in fire he will create a new beginning for the children of man."

Admiral Kronus felt Shadow One vibrate as a nuke struck the heavy armor protecting it. On the main view screen multiple missiles trails were flying between the two fleets. KEW rounds were also present but were not visible until they hit their intended target.

The raiders and dueling vipers had moved to one side to avoid the flak fields and multiple weapons rounds that were flying and exploding between the two fleets. Occasional explosions could be seen erupting on the approaching Basestars as Colonial missiles or KEW rounds struck home. Admiral Kronus knew that the Cylons were probably seeing the same thing on the Colonial fleet. On the damage control board, more compartments continued to show red. Shadow One was starting to take a lot of damage from the nuke strikes.

Admiral Muray on the Nichen was advancing determinedly toward the Cylon Basestars with the Fury now off his port side and the two Firestars, Theia and Phoebe trailing behind giving the two Warstars covering fire.

The four Assault class Gunstars assigned to Admiral Murray were making quick runs at the Cylon Basestars firing their weapons then pulling back to reload missiles and prepare for the next attack run. In the Cylon line, Admiral Murray could see a Cylon Basestar burning from the last Gunstar attack.

"Order the Fury to target Basestar designated target C3, we will both hit that Basestar and try to take her out," Admiral Muray ordered as he studied the operation's table.

Aboard the Valkyrie Commander Andrea Kross grimaced as the Columbia Two class Battlestar Holden took two nukes to her starboard side and then vanished in a massive explosion as another nuke took out her sub light drive and the Tylium energizer that powered it. There were just too many weapons flying around to be able to stop them all. Between the raiders and the Cylon warships, the Colonial vessels were starting to take a lot of damage. There were also a fraken lot of raiders launching their missiles whenever they could get close enough to a Colonial warship.

"Inbound nukes!" the Dradis operator yelled as three nukes penetrated the Valkyrie's flak screen and impacted the starboard landing bay. The ship shuddered and shook and the lights went briefly out. Andrea felt herself flung to the floor and she hit her head painfully against the base of the operation's table.

The starboard landing bay was nearly torn off, all that remained was a mangled mass of crushed and glowing metal. Then another nuke stuck the now defenseless Battlestar directly above the FTL drive fusing its components and damaging the secondary energizer.

"Flak field reestablished," tactical reported in a shaken voice as the power came back on.

"We have lost the starboard landing bay and the FTL drive," the exec reported grim faced looking at Commander Kross as she regained her footing. "The secondary energizer is also off line. We have a lot of hull buckling and open compartments on our starboard side. I am getting reports of massive casualties!"

"Very well," Commander Kross replied fortifying herself. A lot of people she had known for years had just died. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach she knew that the Valkyrie would not be leaving this battle, running her hand across her forehead it came away covered in blood. "Contact the Olympia and inform Commander Creen he has command, move us closer to Shadow One so we can give them support."

Commander Kross glanced at the Dradis and the view screens. Frak, a lot of raiders were making attack runs at the fleet. Fortunately, the raiders seemed to be equipped with only standard missiles and not nukes but they were still causing a lot of damage. She knew this battle would not last much longer. The Valkyrie shuddered again from several small missile strikes, Andrea looked across the operation's table at her exec. He looked back and nodded with a slight smile of acceptance. They both knew their lives could now be measured in minutes.

Darien looked at the main view screens as he saw the Colonial ships being eliminated one by one. Everything was going according to plan. He had managed to trap two of the Assault Gunstars only moments before in one of their attack runs allowing them to run into a massive coordinated missile attack from three Basestars, which had blew them apart leaving only two expanding clouds of gas and debris. Then he groaned as the two Colonial Warstars blew one of his Basestars to pieces with their massive KEW round bombardment.

Whirling around he looked angrily at one of the eights who was at the tactical station. "I want those Warstars destroyed, and I want them destroyed now! Those fraken Warstars are just too dangerous!"

Admiral Kronus saw four Cylon Basestars suddenly break formation and accelerate towards the two Warstars. Multiple missiles began streaking toward the two ships. The three Support Gunstars suddenly accelerated and placed themselves defensively between the Warstars and the approaching missiles. Admiral Kronus felt pained as all three vanished in massive nuclear explosions but then the avenging Warstars were on the four Basestars. One exploded from massive KEW rounds penetrating to the Tylium bunkers deep within igniting a massive fire then a series of explosions that blew the Basestar apart, another died as nuclear fire from multiple nuclear strikes consumed the ship. Then a nuclear strike from the two remaining Basestars struck the Fury. Nuclear explosion after nuclear explosion ate at the heavy armor of the ship until it finally failed. In a massive explosion, the Fury blew apart. The Nichen managed to seriously damage a third Basestar before she was finally forced to withdraw.

Admiral Kronus then realized what he had to do; too many of his people were dying. "Colonel Welling order the crew to the evacuation shuttles and have them jump to the rendezvous coordinates."

Colonel Welling looked in surprise at Admiral Kronus, "Yes sir."

Darien Cavil looked at the surviving Colonial fleet. He had lost six of his Basestars but the human fleet had suffered heavily also. His raiders would soon finish off the Colonial vipers and then this would end very quickly.

"Darien, the human command ship is accelerating toward our position!" the eight at tactical reported.

"Move our supporting Basestars in closer, we will destroy it." Darien spoke with a wolfish smile.

The six only looked on, the fool didn't realize the danger he was in, his foolish pride and hatred of the humans was not allowing him to fight this battle efficiently.

Aboard Shadow One Colonel Welling watched as Admiral Kronus set the navigation controls to collide with a Cylon Basestar. The rest of the crew of the CIC had already left to go to the escape shuttles. "We need to go Admiral," Colonel Welling spoke. "The Nichen is standing by to take you on board."

"Yes," Admiral Kronus replied walking over to the heavily armored door of the CIC where Colonel Welling waited. With a sudden push Admiral Kronus shoved the surprised Colonel out the door and then slammed it shut locking it from inside.

In shock and fear, Colonel Welling hit the communication panel next to the door. "Admiral; what are you doing? We must get out of here! The shuttle is waiting!"

"No Colonel," Admiral Kronus replied pressing the com button next to the massive door inside the CIC. "This is my last battle; I am too old to go on. I commanded a Battlestar in the first Cylon war and this will be my last command. Tell Admiral Stone to get our people to safety!"

Admiral Kronus walked back over to the operation's table glancing at the current location of all the Cylon Basestars, then over to the consul that controlled Shadow One's power. He saw that twenty four minutes had now elapsed. Looking up at the Dradis, he saw with satisfaction that the Titania and the last of her fleet were jumping out. He also knew that Admiral Reed would now be emerging from the Transit Corridor and would be setting out on his mission. He set several commands on the computer then entered his command over ride code. Then moving over to the communication consul he ordered all remaining ships to jump. Then taking a seat at the navigation consul he looked up at the view screen, which showed the Cylon Basestar he had chosen as his target slowly expanding on the screen.

In moments, Shadow One was alone except for the Valkyrie, the Dathym, and the Theia; all were too damaged to jump. They paced Shadow One as Admiral Kronus and his final command flew toward their destiny.

Darien Cavil watched on the screen as the human command ship approached. It was supported by two damaged Battlestars and a Firestar. Soon all four would be destroyed. Missiles were already striking all four human ships and they wouldn't last much longer. He watched as a nuke struck the human command ship blowing a hole in its side. He could see fires raging in its torn and battered hull. Human weapons were also striking his Basestars but now his raiders were free and beginning to make attack runs on the human ships. Another minute and this battle would be over.

"Darien I am picking up massive power fluctuations from their command ship," one of the Simon models spoke up suddenly from where he was standing with his hands in the information stream.

"What," Darien stammered as the human ships rapidly moved closer on the Dradis screen. The human command ship now filled the view screen. He could see missile strikes pummeling its hull blowing huge pieces of metal and armor off into space. "He is gong to ram us you fool!" Darien yelled angrily with sudden realization. "Move us out of the way!"

With a massive crash, Shadow One struck the command Basestar tearing off two of its arms, then her Tylium energizers overloaded and exploded. A massive fiery explosion lit up the surrounding space.

The six only nodded as the Basestar began to shake and explosions began taking out the stations in the command center, she would soon download and would speak with the other sixes about the ones.

Darien felt the massive explosion tear through his Basestar. "Fraken humans he spoke angrily, as his Basestar exploded around him.

The other three human warships also rammed unsuspecting Cylon Basestars. The Valkyrie, the Dathym, and the Theia all road their sub light drives into Basestars, dying in massive explosions that lit up space around them. They died in the bravest tradition of the Colonial fleet. Giving their lives to protect those that still survived. The four hundred thousand civilians that were now under the protection of Admiral Stone.

Author's note: Admiral Clements will be the primary character in Battlestar Aurora, which I will put up in January 2011. As I have said before there are some things I am skipping over or mentioning only briefly because they will be covered in detail in the January story. The good thing is, Battlestar Aurora is already written and all I have to do is make some minor changes. Certain events have to occur in Gunstar Titania so as not to contradict what happens in the other story. Thank you for your reviews and for reading my story. I didn't realize so many people would be interested. One more chapter to go and I promise it will contain several interesting surprises.


	14. Chapter 14

**Gunstar Titania**

**Cylon War Part Two**

Jason grimaced as the Titania came out of jump. "Fleet status," he barked with concern, he didn't know how long they would have before the Cylons followed them or how many warships he would have to defend the fleet with. In his mind, he could still see the multiple nukes going off between the Colonial warships and the Cylon Basestars. He knew that the Colonial warships had been heavily engaged and not all of them had jumped with the fleet. He waited hoping that Admiral Kronus and Shadow One would make an appearance. Shadow One had an FTL drive and was capable of making the jump to these rendezvous coordinates.

Everyone in the CIC looked tensely at the view screens, which were finally beginning to show the civilian ships. Lt. Grimm was using her sensors scanning nearby space for any signs of danger in the small yellow dwarf system they had jumped into. She was also scanning the ships that had made the jump.

Lt. Johnson was listening to the com system, as panicked civilian ships were requesting instructions afraid that the Cylons would soon show up.

Major Dyson checked the Dradis screen above the operation's table and then used her mini com to talk to Lt. Emerson. "Looks like we have all two hundred and four of the civilians. We are still trying to identify the warships and should have that shortly."

Jason looked at the view screens that were beginning to show the ships of the fleet. He saw the Battlestar Olympia suddenly appear centered on the main screen. He was relieved to see that she had survived. Her hull was covered in savage burn marks and some of her armor was brutally damaged but she seemed to be fully operational.

However, there was no sign of Shadow One or the Valkyrie! He knew that the Valkyrie had been heavily damaged; he had watched in dismay as multiple nukes took out her landing bay. He had also witnessed the destruction of the Battlestar Holden as massive Cylon nuclear strikes penetrated her flak screen destroying the Battlestar. The last part of the battle had been horrendous in the number of nukes being used.

"We have confirmation of the following warships," Major Dyson reported turning to face Jason with a grim look on her face. "The Battlestar Olympia, the Warstar Nichen, the Battlestar Shrike, are the only heavy warships that were able to jump. There is the Firestar Phoebe, which is heavily damaged, the Assault Gunstars Trinity and Gaia, and the Defender Gunstar Antem. We have our own Titans, the Eros, the Erebus, and the Lodestar. Both the Eros and Erebus have moderate damage but are operational."

"Admiral raptor 108 has just jumped in," Lt. Grimm reported with a stunned look on her face from looking at the video they were beginning to send. "They are downloading video that you need to see. I will put it on the main screen." Reaching forward she pressed several buttons on her computer consul.

A moment later, they watched the last few minutes of the ferocious battle that had taken place after they jumped. They saw Shadow One ram what looked like the Cylon Command Basestar destroying it in a massive fiery explosion. They saw several of the tugs try to break free and escape to only die under attacks from numerous raiders. Then they watched as the remaining Colonial warships, several nothing more then burning wrecks, rammed more Cylon Basestars turning them into glowing masses of flaming debris. Only two Cylon Basestars remained undamaged.

"This is war," Lt. Emerson spoke quietly in the silent CIC as everyone stared at the view screen in near shock at the death and destruction it had portrayed. "No mercy and no surrender!"

"Yes," Jason replied knowing now that Admiral Kronus was not coming. "This is war and we are fighting for the survival of our species, we will remember their sacrifice. The Cylons want us dead and we must do whatever we must to survive, as our fellow Colonials just demonstrated. We will not let their sacrifice be in vain!"

"So say we all," Major Dyson spoke and the words were immediately echoed by the entire crew of the CIC.

"Sir, I have Admiral Muray on the com," Lt. Johnson spoke pointing to her mini com in her ear.

Jason reached up with his right hand and tapped his own mini com, which was set to the fleet channel, "Admiral I am pleased to see that you survived."

"Just barely," Admiral Muray replied with a weary voice. "We lost over half of the fleet including Admiral Kronus and Shadow One, what do we do now?"

"We jump the fleet as soon as possible," Jason replied hoping that all the warships were still capable of jumping; they couldn't afford to lose any more. "I want to put some distance between us and the Cylons."

"I think that is wise," Admiral Muray replied voicing his agreement. "Most of our warships are damaged to some extent but I believe they are all still capable of jumping."

Jason looked at a small screen above the operation's table that was slowly counting down. In twelve more minuets all the habitats, supply bases, and other constructions in the nebula they had left behind would self destruct. They would leave nothing behind for the Cylons to recover. Even though the defense satellites would hold them out for a while, the Cylons would eventually get ships into the nebula. While they couldn't stay long due to the radiation, they could stay for a very brief time. All they would find would be destroyed wreckage.

"Admiral Muray, Major Dyson check with all ships and see how soon we can jump," Jason ordered. "I want to do two quick jumps, and then we will stop briefly and see what repairs our warships need. But we need to jump as soon as possible before the Cylons find us!"

On the Dradis screen, Jason could see the Zeus hovering protectively above the fleet with ten full squadrons of vipers from the Colony ships flying CAP. He just hoped they could all make it to safety. Demeter and Terra were a long way off!

Twenty minutes later the fleet jumped putting twelve more light years between them and the Cylons, then picking a small solar system as a destination the fleet jumped again.

"All ships present," Lt. Everson reported as he scanned his Dradis screen and data readouts.

"Sensors show no immediate danger," Lt. Grimm reported looking at the data coming off her short range scans. "Beginning long range sensor scans."

"Launch raptors to push out our Dradis range," Jason ordered wanting to be able to detect any Cylon ships that might jump into their vicinity. "I also want four full squadrons out on CAP. Lt. Johnson, get me Admiral Murray, General Abrams, Colonel Welling, and Andrea Nagala on the com."

Jason took a deep breath as he looked at the crowded Dradis screen and the view screens, which were focused on various ships of the fleet. He felt a heavy burden resting squarely on his shoulders. All these people now depended on him for their survival. He was grateful that most of Admiral Kronus's command staff had survived. He was going to need them to get through the ordeal ahead. There was no doubt in his mind that eventually the Cylons would find them.

A few minutes later, he had all four of the people he had mentioned on a private fleet com channel. "Admiral Muray we need to get our warships organized, get me a list of what warships are the most damaged and in need of immediate repair. We can use the two Construct Stars for that. Form the rest of the ships into a new battle group; you may use all the warships except the Zeus, Titania, and the marine ships. I don't know how long it will be before the Cylons find us but we have to be ready for them!"

"Very well Admiral Stone," Admiral Muray replied knowing he still had a lot to do before he could rest for a few hours. "I have already been contacting ships to check on battle damage, I should have a full assessment in another two hours. I imagine the Cylons have heavy raiders jumping to all the nearby systems looking for us. I wouldn't recommend that we stay here too long."

"I agree," Jason replied, he had been thinking along the same lines. "We will stay just long enough to access our combat capability and decide what repairs need to be done. Then we will begin jumping once again."

"The civilians are not used to multiple jumps Admiral," Andrea Nagala warned knowing that multiple jumps would be a problem. "We should warn them what to expect and make medications available to deal with jump sickness, especially if you are planning a long series of multiple jumps."

"Good idea," Jason replied knowing she was correct. He didn't need a lot of sick civilians on his hands while they were trying to escape the Cylons. "We have two hospital ships, one fleet and one civilian; they should have the necessary meds."

"Colonel Welling I want you to report to the Super Colony ship Tiber," Jason ordered. "All of the Super Colony ships are heavily armed and currently have a full viper squadron and partial raptor squadron assigned to each. In addition as you are well aware of, the rest of the second Colony fleet is also armed."

"Yes Admiral," Colonel Wellings replied surprised, he was well aware of just how heavily armed the second Colony Fleet was. It was something that Admiral Kronus had insisted on. The fleet was going into the unknown, and even though the Titania ant the other Titans would be escorting the fleet, no chances could be taken. Therefore, Admiral Kronus had the second Colony Fleet armed even more heavily then the original.

"I am placing you in charge of the Colony Fleet and will be sending over a raptor shortly," Jason continued feeling uneasy about what he was about to say but knowing it was necessary. "Captain Aaron Steele will be piloting that raptor. He will have a data disk with the coordinates for Demeter on it. If we tangle with the Cylons and the battle goes against us, it might be necessary for you to take the Colony Fleet and jump leaving everyone else behind. That data disk is to go into the safe in the Tiber's CIC. That safe is to be kept under heavy guard at all times!"

"Yes sir," Colonel Welling replied somberly. "I don't like the idea of leaving the other civilians behind but I understand the necessity of doing so. The survival of our people has to come first."

"The Colony Fleet has the upgraded FTL drives," Jason replied wanting everyone to understand why he had made this decision. "If they need to move fast and far they can, unfortunately the other civilians can't. I don't' like the idea either of leaving people behind but this is about survival. The Colony ships might just be able to outrun the Cylons."

"General Abrams," Jason continued switching his attention to the marine commander. "You have six Marine Assault Vessels under your command. All six are heavily armed. We will be spacing your ships throughout the civilian fleet to add to our defensive and offensive firepower in case the Cylons get through to the civilians.

"Yes sir," General Abrams replied already thinking about how best to position his ships to defend the civilians. "May I remind you sir that my Assault Vessels have six vipers, six armed raptors, as well as twelve Archangel Bombers which can be used to attack Cylon ships if needed."

"Thank you General," Jason replied, he had forgotten about the Archangel Bombers. They could be useful in the right situation. "We may need those forces later."

"I also want you to assign additional squads of marines to all the civilian ships in case they are boarded by Cylon Centurions," Jason continued. "Some of the ships already have small marine contingents for internal security or their own private security forces, but I want additional marines assigned. If the Cylons manage to successfully board a civilian ship it could become messy real quick."

"Yes sir," General Abrams replied, he also had been concerned about Cylons boarding any of the civilian ships. He had nearly fifteen thousand marines on his six Assault ships. He could readily see the need for additional boots in the civilian ships, plus it would keep a number of his marines occupied.

"Ms. Nagala," Jason continued. "I had a lot of respect for your farther and I wish he was here with us now, we could really use his organizational skills and tactical wizardry."

"My father had faith in you Admiral," Andrea replied still feeling her father's loss, she was still finding it hard to believe that he was gone, that he hadn't found a way to survive. However, she knew in her heart that he wouldn't have abandoned the fleet. "That's why Admiral Corman and he gave you command of the mission they sent you on."

"Thank you," Jason replied hoping he could live up to Admiral Nagala and Admiral Corman's expectations. "I need you to keep the civilians in line. We are going to be doing a lot of jumps to try to put some distance between us and the Cylons. You managed to keep everything under firm control in the Caspian system, and I need you to continue to do that here. I will shortly make a brief statement to all the ships of the fleet. They will be told that you have been made the civilian liaison between the military and the civilians, any problems the civilians have should be brought to your attention. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes Admiral," Andrea Nagala replied after a brief pause, the offer had surprised her. "My senior staff is here with me on the Passenger liner Evening Dreams; we can set up everything we need here. I will also check with the two hospital ships about jump meds. For now I suggest we use them for only the worst cases."

"Alright then, everyone has their assignments," Jason stated seeing that Lt. Johnson was trying to get his attention. "If anyone has any questions contact me." With that, Jason dismissed the four. "What is it Lt."

"I have Specialist Anthon on the com," Lt. Johnson replied worriedly. "She says it's urgent."

Jason pressed his mini com. "What is it?" he asked wondering what Denise needed. He had started to call her Denise since he was told of her true background. "Lt. Johnson said it was urgent."

"It is Admiral," Denise replied over the com with a hint of worry in her voice. "I have been using my equipment on the Zeus to scan all communication frequencies including the sub space ones. I have located six sub space tracking signals originating from our fleet! They have to be Cylon!"

Jason was quiet as he digested the information. Six tracking devices, he thought. The Cylons really didn't want them to get away. "I am not surprised," he said finally as he thought about the ramifications. "With all the civilian ships we have with us, we should have realized that the Cylons were bound to have placed tracking devices on a few. That is something we should have expected. Especially after we found the one on the Aires fleet! They were probably remote activated by the Cylons when we jumped."

"What do you want to do sir?" Denise asked worriedly. With the homing signals, she knew it would not be long before the Cylon showed up. "I can use my equipment to locate the ships the signals are originating from and what specific areas of the ships we need to search."

"Go ahead and identify the ships," Jason replied thinking furiously about how he wanted to handle this. "We will locate the tracking devices but I don't want them disabled yet. I am afraid if we do, the Cylons will attack immediately. As long as they think they have a method to track us they may leave us alone, give us time to get our warships repaired."

"Yes sir," Denise replied not liking the idea of allowing the Cylons to track them.

For the next sixteen days, the fleet jumped four time times per day with an average distance of fourteen light years each time. During all those jumps there was never any sign of the Cylons. Jason began to wonder if they were really following the fleet. Perhaps they had hurt them severely enough back at Shadow Base that they couldn't follow in time to track the fleet.

Jason decided he had to know for sure so for the last two jumps, Jason had Captain Landry deploy FTL sensor buoys from the Zeus in the systems they had left, and then Jason halted the fleet to see what the buoys would report. He also wanted to give the civilians some time to recover from the long series of jumps. Ms. Nagala had reported that even with the use of meds a lot of people were sick.

Andrea Nagala was in the CIC of the passenger liner Evening Dreams. The ship had been specifically designed for use in the Caspian system. It could serve as a Command ship overseeing the mining operations or as a luxury Passenger liner if needed. Its CIC was four times the size of a regular luxury Passenger liner. Now it was being used as both.

"What are the latest reports of illness throughout the fleet?" she asked looking over at Don Anderson who sat behind a large desk covered with computer printouts and scribbled notes on numerous pieces of paper. It hadn't taken Don long to get his new desk on the Evening Dreams to look like his old desk back in the Operations Center on Helos.

"A lot of younger children are suffering from jump sickness," he replied running his eyes down a computer printout that a young female computer technician had just laid down in front of him a few moments earlier. After each jump, Don had each civilian ship notify the Evening Dreams of any new cases of jump sickness. The totals continued to mount.

"We have a number of ships starting to complain about all the jumps," Stephen Andorn added from his position in front of the large communications consul. Two communication techs sat next to him helping to monitor the two hundred plus ships in the fleet. "Between the numerous jumps and the jump sickness, civilian moral is going to frak!"

"We have nearly four hundred thousand civilians in this fleet," Andrea commented pacing back and forth thinking. "Unfortunately, we only have two hospital ships. How much of their capacity is currently being used by people with jump sickness?"

"Almost forty percent," Don replied, he didn't need to look that number up, he had checked it earlier. He had one person on each ship keeping track of the health of the civilians in the fleet then reporting back to the Evening Dreams. "That doesn't even count all the sick cases in each ships own med bay."

"We are lucky that the Colony Fleet had two freighters full of medical supplies," Stephen stated turning to look at Andrea. "But if we don't reduce the use of the jump meds, we will run out eventually."

"I know," Andrea replied as she looked up at a large view screen, which showed the fleet hospital ship Mercy. The ship was the size of a Jupiter Class Battlestar.

"If we could just go a day or two without jumping it would help a lot," Don said standing up and walking over by Andrea where she was standing gazing at the view screen. "Many of the sick civilians can't get over their bouts of sickness because we jump too soon. They don't have sufficient time to recover from the previous jump."

"I'll speak to Admiral Stone," Andrea replied. However, she didn't know if it would do any good. She knew about the sub space tracking devices and that the Cylons were probably following the fleet. She didn't know how long they could stay in one star system before the Cylons decided to attack. She wondered how they were going to lose the Cylons, and if they would ever make it safely to Demeter.

Jason was sitting in a raptor heading over to the Zeus to watch for the results from the FTL sensor buoys. Admiral Muray was busy on the Nichen as his Command ship was preparing to leave the bay on the Construct Star where the ship had been undergoing repairs for the last four days. Jason wanted the Warstar in top fighting condition in case they had to tangle with the Cylons again. Once the Warstar and the Shrike were out of the bays two of the Titans would enter. Jason just hoped he had time to complete fleet repairs before the Cylons found them.

His raptor landed on the Zeus and he was immediately escorted to the CIC of the large warship where Captain Landers, Emissary Osiris, and Denise were waiting.

Captain Landers nodded as Jason entered the CIC and walked up to the large sensor screen they were all watching expectantly. "With the sub space buoys deployed we should see just what the Cylons are following us with, if they are following us."

"There is no doubt in my mind that they are," Jason replied thinking about the six tracking devices. He had that feeling in his gut. The Cylons would never let them go.

"Do you think they are following us with a large fleet?" Denise asked feeling concerned for all the civilians.

"I don't know," Jason replied seeing that the sensor screen was still empty of any dangerous icons. He had been mulling this over for several days. They only had a limited number of FTL sensor buoys available on the Zeus and he had hesitated on using them before today. However, he needed to know what the Cylons were up to.

"I notice that our course back to Demeter and Terra has not been a straight one," Captain Landers commented looking over inquiringly at Jason.

"No, I don't want the Cylons to be able to plot our final destination," Jason replied hoping he had made the correct decision. The course he was following would add several weeks to their travel time. "If they did I'm afraid they would attack immediately, hoping to eliminate us and then continue on to where they plotted our final destination to be."

"We have contacts," Denise spoke tensely looking up at the main sensor screen, which was showing the images being recorded by one of the FTL sensor buoys. Red icons began appearing on the screen, a lot of them!

As they watched, the screen slowly filled up with contacts. Jason felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He had never thought that the Cylons would follow them with a fleet of this size. He didn't have the warships to fight a force like this!

"The sensor buoy is showing twenty eight Cylon Basestars and sixteen of their Support ships," Denise reported slowly, rechecking the information showing on her computer consul. She knew that was enough firepower to wipe out the fleet, including the Zeus and the Titania. The Cylons were following them with an overwhelming force. Denise knew that if they attacked there would be no escaping.

"By the Lords of Kobol," Emissary Osiris spoke feeling frightened by what was displayed on the screen. "We can't allow that fleet to follow us home! That's why they sent such a large fleet; they want us to lead them to Demeter and Terra!"

"Emissary Osiris is right Admiral," Commander Landers replied shaking his head worriedly as he gazed at the screen. "The defense grid over Demeter would be overwhelmed by that fleet and the raiders they carry. Even Terra would have a serious problem, our fleet could probably stop them along with the defense grid but our ships can't be at Terra and Demeter both!"

Jason was silent for a long moment. He had hoped that the Cylon had not been able to follow them in time to detect the tracking devices. He had known all along that this was a small probability. Jason had also considered worse case scenarios. He had even considered the possibility of a large fleet following them, just not this large. He had reasoned that the Cylons would want to know where the Zeus and the Titania had come from, and where they had gotten their superior weapons. They might even suspect a hidden Colonial colony. If so, they would want to follow the fleet and destroy that colony. "I was afraid this might be a problem, I just didn't expect the Cylons to commit a fleet of this size."

"What are we going to do?" Denise asked not wanting to lead these Cylons to Demeter or back home to Terra. As long as they didn't both colonies were safe. However, what would become of them? How long would it be before the Cylons got impatient and attacked the fleet?

"Admiral I can't allow you to lead these Cylons back to Demeter and Terra," Emissary Osiris spoke at last turning to gaze worriedly at Jason. "Our fore most duty must be to protect those two worlds, even if it means we never see home again!"

"I have a plan," Jason replied finally, he had been thinking of a way to escape the Cylon fleet if one was following for the last several days. He just wasn't quite sure how to implement it. "Here is what I propose."

Thirty minutes later the other three looked at Jason like he had lost his mind. "You have got to be kidding," Captain Landers exclaimed after hearing Jason out. "How can we risk something like that, we could lose the entire civilian fleet!"

"It's the only thing that might work," Jason replied determinedly. "If we don't try it we will probably lose the civilian fleet anyway. At least this way they have a chance of surviving."

"We could still lose a lot of ships if the timing is not just right," Captain Landers continued shaking his head thinking about everything that could go wrong with what Admiral Stone was proposing.

"What else would you suggest?" Jason asked looking at the two.

Captain Landers and Emissary Osiris were both not quite sure what to say. They didn't see how they could approve of this, it was just too dangerous.

Denise was silent as she ran some computations across her computer. "I don't know," she spoke at last as she looked at the preliminary results on the screen. "It could work."

Emissary Osiris looked at the three his face shrouded in fear and worry, "I can't approve of such a dangerous plan, and there are just too many unknowns. I won't authorize risking the Zeus in this hair-brained scheme Admiral Stone. I just can't!"

"It may be our only hope," Denise spoke looking at all three. "If everything goes as Admiral Stone suggests."

"That's a big if," Emissary Osiris replied placing his hands behind his back and closing his eyes in deep thought slowly shaking his head in denial. "I am not a military man. If you can assure me this plan has more then a fifty percent chance of success then I might agree to it."

Denise looked back at her computer screen before replying. "Nearly sixty two percent," she replied looking at Emissary Osiris. She knew that without his approval the Zeus could not be committed to this plan of Admiral Stones.

The CIC was quiet for several minutes other then the normal working of the crew. "Very well," Emissary Osiris answered at last with a slight nod still not liking where this was leading. "I agree tentatively if the odds are that good. But if anything changes I still reserve the right to pull the Zeus from this operation!"

Later Jason walked back to his raptor with Denise at his side, she was strangely quiet and Jason had a good idea as to why. "Denise, what did the computer percentage really say?"

She stopped and looked at Admiral Stone for a moment surprised before smiling slightly. "Only eighteen per cent sir, but I didn't see what else we could do, and it was the only way to get Emissary Osiris to commit the Zeus. He has been a friend of my fathers for years and I hated to deceive him."

"Only eighteen percent," Jason replied surprised at how low the number was. He had figured on at least forty percent. "Then I guess I better do some more planning to see if we can get that number up higher."

"I will run some simulations on my computer in my lab," Denise replied her mind running over several possibilities that she thought might be pertinent. "It has a lot of special software built in that I designed; perhaps I can help you get that number up."

It was early evening ship's time and Emily, Susan, Karl, Cynthia, and Denise were preparing to have a meal in the ship's main cafeteria. The five were sitting in a corner off to themselves where they could talk with some semblance of privacy.

"It's all over the fleet," Cynthia commented looking worriedly at Karl who was sitting next to her. "Twenty eight Basestars are just one jump behind us!"

"Don't forget the sixteen Support ships," Denise added with a frown on her face. She had come over to spend a few hours with her friends to try to relax. Before she had taken a shuttle over to the Titania, she had programmed her lab computer to run a series of various battle scenarios. She had programmed the scenarios based on what Admiral Stone had told her earlier about his plan and she had added several variations she had thought of.

"The fleet is ready to jump but we had a request form Ms. Nagala to postpone the next series of jumps to allow some of the civilians to recover from jump sickness," Karl spoke recalling his surprise when the Admiral had agreed to postpone the next scheduled jump. He was glad he didn't suffer from jump sickness. A little queasiness every once and a while but nothing serious.

"Jump sickness," Denise groaned aloud at the thought. She had finally talked Emissary Osiris into taking the jump meds and it had helped him tremendously. However, she knew that a lot of people in the fleet were suffering.

Susan took a small sip of the rose-colored Ambrosia that was in her glass, closing her eyes and enjoying the taste. She hoped that they could grow the special grapes on Demeter so Ambrosia wouldn't become a thing of the past. They had lost so much when the Colonies were destroyed, many of them still had no idea what had happened to their families, were they still alive hiding from the Cylons or had they died in the nuclear bombardment?

"The Admiral will have to do something soon," Susan said finally. "We can't continue to do this many jumps. We have a lot of fleet techs spending major time on the civilian ships retuning their jump drives. Civilian jump drives aren't designed for multiple jumps like this."

"We could start losing ships," Karl commented knowing if an FTL drive failed that ship would be lost to the Cylons.

Cynthia placed her hand on top of Karl's and squeezed gently. "I have faith in the Admiral; he hasn't let us down yet. Let's get some food, I'm hungry!"

Aaron was in his viper cruising slowly through the fleet. Four full squadrons of vipers were currently flying CAP around the fleet on alert for Cylon heavy raiders. He saw the two Assault Gunstars Trinity and Gaia off his port wing. The seven hundred and fifty meter ships seemed to bristle with weapons. Both had been repaired and he could see where new armor had replaced damaged. Off his starboard wing he could see the Firestar Phoebe, her landing pod had been heavily damaged and her air wing was currently dispersed throughout the fleet. Aaron knew that as soon as the two Titans were repaired, the Phoebe would be taken inside one of the Construct Stars for her repairs to begin.

Making a slow turn, he flew above one of the large Agro ships marveling at the four large domes that dominated the upper hull. There were six of these large Agro ships in the Colony Fleet. They contained almost every variety of plant and animal life that could be found on the Colonies. Some were just stored as seeds and many of the animals were frozen in embryo form.

A warning tone suddenly emitted from his Dradis. Glancing down he saw eight red icons appear just above the fleet. "Frak," he said aloud recognizing the Dradis signature's of Cylon heavy raiders. Over his fleet com, he heard Major Dyson order one of the CAP squadrons to engage while the fleet prepared to jump.

Admiral Stone returned to the CIC just as the Titania jumped, he closed his eyes briefly and then felt everything return to normal. He had been in his quarters trying to get a few precious minutes of sleep when the ship had gone to Condition One. "Status?" he barked as he walked over to the operation's table where Major Dyson stood watching the Dradis screen above her station.

"Eight Cylon heavy raiders jumped in above the fleet," she reported turning to face Jason. "We engaged with one of our CAP squadrons and took five of them out before the other three jumped."

Jason thought for a moment. The Cylons had allowed them to stay in the system sixteen hours before they had sent the raiders in. "Schedule the next series of jumps for every ten hours," Jason ordered. "Hopefully that will help the Civilians some by reducing the amount of jumps and keep the Cylons at bay. I suspect they didn't want us to stay in one spot too long."

Jason looked for a moment at the operation's table. "In eight days I want us to be here," he said pointing to a star system on the star map currently displayed on the operation's table.

"There!" Major Dyson exclaimed surprised, her eyes rising to meet Jason's eyes.

"Yes," Jason replied looking determined. "That's where I want to be. That will give us time to finish the repairs on all of our warships. Plot us a course and I don't want the Cylons to be able to figure out where we're headed!"

Jason retired to his quarters and sat down behind his large oak desk. Rubbing his forehead with his left hand, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. He was putting the entire fleet in serious danger with the plan he had come up with, but he didn't know what else to do. Leaning back in his chair he closed his eyes and went over in his mind just what he intended. He hoped that Denise could come up with some slight deviations in his plan that would improve the percentages of success, if not they could lose a lot of the fleet.

Eight days later the Titania and her fleet jumped into a small white dwarf system. As soon as they arrived, Jason sent four raptors on to the system ahead for a quick Dradis scan. He then had Lt. Johnson contact Admiral Muray, General Abrams, Colonel Welling, Andrea Nagala, Captain Landers, and Denise."

Jason waited patiently as Lt. Johnson made the necessary com connections. Part of the plan he was about to implement hinged on one of the battle simulations that Denise had ran. It was the only one that produced a chance of fleet survival at better then fifty percent. What she had suggested had surprised him and after thinking about it, he wondered why he hadn't thought of it. It made so much since considering the Cylons hatred of humanity. Lt. Johnson got his attention indicating that the specified people were on the com.

"Admiral Muray what is the current status of your ships?" Jason asked wanting to confirm that all the warships were ready to go. He knew that the Phoebe had exited one of the Construct Stars yesterday with her armor repaired and her landing bay whole once more. He had met with Admiral Muray and several others several times over the last several days going over details of his plan.

"We are ready Admiral," Admiral Muray replied. "All ships have been resupplied and are carrying full ammunition and missile loads. I have divided our warships into two battle groups. The Nichen, Eros, Erebus, Loadstar, and the Phoebe in one, the Olympia, Shrike, Trinity, Gaia, and Antem in the other. Commander Creed will command the second battle group."

"Very well Admiral, stand by for plan implementation as soon as the raptors return," Jason replied in approval of the way Admiral Muray had divided the ships. "General Abrams are your men in position on the civilian ships with the tracking devices?"

"Yes sir," General Abrams confirmed. "We are ready and have extra marines on all civilian ships ready to act if any more sub space tracking devices come on line."

"Very well, you will order all tracking devices deactivated on my command," Jason spoke turning his attention to Colonel Welling. "Colonel Welling, if this plan fails I will order the Colony Fleet to jump. If I do so, you are to make maximum length multiple jumps until you are satisfied that you have lost the Cylons. We have given you two FTL sensor buoys to confirm that. Once you have lost the Cylons you are to proceed to Demeter and inform the colony and Terra what has happened."

"Ms. Nagala, if this plan fails the rest of the civilians will jump with the Marine Assault Vessels," Jason continued. "Each Marine Vessel has been assigned a section of civilian ships. Each of the six Marine ships and the civilian ships they are escorting will jump away in six separate directions. I hope that will allow some of the civilians to escape from any Cylons that might be pursuing. Each Marine ship commander has a set of coordinates to send a ship to in two months for possible rescue, any questions?"

"No sir," Andrea replied, she had approved of this part of the plan. It offered the best chance for the civilian ships, which were not part of the Colony Fleet to survive. "We have divided the civilian ships to allow for the maximum possibility of survival if they have to set up their own colony. If a fleet can't reestablish contact with any other parts of the fleet they will jump away as far as possible and begin searching for a colonizable planet."

They spent the next several minutes going over the plan making sure they had not missed anything. They were still talking when the raptors jumped back in.

"Everything is as we hoped," Denise reported over the com, as she was using her advanced computer in her lab to quickly analyze the data. "I am transmitting the necessary fleet jump coordinates to the Titania and to the Zeus's CIC."

"Very well," Jason spoke realizing the time had arrived, it was now time to implement the change in the plan that Denise had recommended from her computer simulations. "Captain Landers you may jump and initiate operation decoy."

Jason looked up at the large Dradis screen above the operation's table seeing the green icon that was the Zeus disappear. Now all they had to do was wait for two long hours and hope the Cylons didn't get impatient, jump in, and screw everything up.

The two hours slowly passed. Jason looked around the quiet CIC as everyone waited expectantly for him to give the order to jump. "All right people, this is it. If everything works out as we hope, we will shortly be on our way to Demeter." Jason didn't mention that if it didn't they would probably all be dead! "Major Dyson, jump the fleet!"

Jason felt the Titania jump, feeling that squeezing suffocating sensation that he so disliked then everything returned to normal. "Status," he barked looking at the Dradis and view screens his pulse racing.

The Dradis screen began to clear and soon the green icons of the civilian ships and escorting warships began to appear.

"All ships present," Lt. Emerson reported tensely.

Over the fleet com, Jason ordered all ships to go to Condition One.

"Lt. Grimm what do your sensors show?" Jason asked hoping they were in the right position.

She hesitated for a moment as her long range sensors began reporting in. "We are twenty two million kilometers from target, just where you wanted to be."

Jason smiled grimly. His crazy plan was now set in motion. They had jumped into the Ovion's home system just twenty two million kilometers from Carillon and the massive Ovion war fleet that orbited it!

"All ships sub light drive at forty percent, head toward the Ovion fleet," Jason ordered as the view screen began showing some of the other ships of the fleet. The Olympia was on the main screen and he could see she was in the process of launching two of her viper squadrons to fly CAP around the fleet. Jason didn't want to launch more vipers at the moment, even though many of the others were in the launch tubes ready to go if needed.

He hoped that by accelerating towards Carillon, it would encourage the Ovions to wait for the Colonial ships to come within range of their orbiting ships and defense network. If they came out to engage the Colonials, then Jason would have to commit his precious warships to hold off the Ovion attack, which would interfere with his plan. Everything depended on the Ovions not moving away from Carillon to intercept the fleet, at least not for the next few minutes.

Jason watched the Dradis worriedly as the Ovion ships began to move; it was evident that the Ovions knew the Colonial fleet was in the system. The Ovion warships were moving into position to defend Carillon from attack. It looked like many of the heavier units were moving into higher orbits ready to engage the approaching Colonial ships. After a few more minutes, Jason tapped his mini com. "General Abrams you may destroy all the Cylon tracking devices."

"Admiral we have several Ovion scout ships that have jumped just outside of fleet weapon's range," Lt. Emerson reported. Six new red icons had appeared a few thousand kilometers from the fleet. They seemed to be holding position keeping the same distance between them and the fleet.

"They are scanning us with their sensors," Lt. Grimm reported as new information began coming across her computer screens.

"That was to be expected," Jason replied feeling tense. "They want to see who we are and how we're armed."

Less then two minutes later, General Abrams came back on the com. "All tracking devices destroyed."

"Four of the Ovion scouts have jumped away," Lt. Emerson reported watching his Dradis screen intently. "Two are still maintaining their distance."

Jason waited anxiously hoping no major Ovion warships appeared. He was watching the Dradis screen expectantly. Now it was all a matter of timing. Timing based on what they had observed of the Cylons from the FTL sensor buoys they had left behind.

After nearly ten more minutes, the space behind the Colonial fleet rippled as twenty-eight Cylon Basestars and sixteen Support ships appeared in brief flashes of white light. They had jumped to the Colonial's previous position where the tracking devices had been disabled.

Darien Cavil looked up at the large Dradis screen in his Command Center in confusion as it became lit up with numerous red icons designating Colonial ships. "I don't understand what they're doing."

"They disabled our tracking devices," an eight replied from where she was standing with her hands in the information stream and her eyes partially closed in concentration. "They must be trying to escape detection."

"I know that," Darien replied aggravated. "But that implies they knew about them all the time. Why disable them here? Why haven't they jumped?"

"I am picking up a communication in Colonial standard coming from the vicinity of that planet up ahead," a Simon model reported.

"Put it on the speaker," Cavil ordered feeling curious. This was getting more confusing all the time. What were these humans up to?

A male human voice came over the speaker. "This is Admiral Landers of the third fleet of Earth to Admiral Stone. We have detected unknown ships behind your fleet, are these the enemies you spoke of earlier?"

"Yes," Admiral Stone's voice replied. "They seek to destroy all human life; they will attack Earth if you don't stop them! They have already destroyed our own Colonies! We are all that remains of twelve worlds!"

"Jump your fleet to the safe coordinates we gave you earlier, we will handle these Cylons of yours."

Darien looked around the Cylon Command Center in shock. "Earth," he cried. "I thought Earth was out past the Promar sector somewhere! What the frak is going on here!"

"Earth evidently is not out past the Promar sector," an eight replied turning to face Darien. "We have a heavy raider that has jumped close to the planet and it is definitely heavily populated and surrounded by a massive war fleet."

"Earth," Darien mumbled then he smiled in jubilation. "We will destroy it! With Earth gone the humans will have no place to flee to. This must be where they got their advanced weapons!"

"What about the human fleet of refugees we have been pursuing?" a Simon model asked looking at the Dradis screen and pointing. "Are we going to let them escape?"

"Escape where," Darien stated feeling elated at the opportunity to destroy the fabled thirteenth tribe. "Once Earth is gone they will have no where to go, we can hunt them down at our leisure. The whole purpose of this pursuit was to track down where those two ships got their advanced weapons, and now we know!"

Jason watched the Dradis anxiously. What the Cylons didn't know was that several hours previously, the Zeus had jumped into the Ovion system and then crept forward using her cloaking field until she was directly behind the Ovion fleet. The message the Cylons thought was coming from the fleet orbiting Earth was actually a fake message from the Zeus posing as an Earth ship.

"All ships jump to secondary coordinates," Jason ordered satisfied that the trap was baited. Now they would just have to wait and see if the Cylons reacted as Jason hoped they would.

"Human fleet is jumping away," a number eight spoke as the information was fed to her though the information stream.

"Let them go," Darien ordered focusing his attention on the Dradis screen, which was now lighting up with red icons designating the ships that were defending the planet up ahead. "All ships form up on us and prepare to launch raiders. Move the fleet forward and prepare to engage the human fleet defending Earth."

"Darien I am not detecting any Battlestars in the fleet we are approaching," a Simon model reported sounding confused.

"The fleet seems to consist primarily of battle cruisers and some type of larger war ships that we can't identify. Our heavy raiders report the larger ships are very heavily armed," a Doral model commented. "We have no idea of their defensive and offensive capability," he warned.

"We will overwhelm them with our raiders," Darien spoke confidently.

The Cylon fleet slowly closed with the Ovion fleet, which was protecting Carillon. The Cylons thinking they were attacking Earth and the Ovions believing that more humans had come seeking to destroy their world.

Aboard the Zeus Captain Landers ordered navigation to move the ship away from the coming conflict. The ship laid sensor buoys and several high tech probes as they withdrew so they could watch in detail the coming battle. It was vital for them to know how badly the two fleets hurt each other.

Darien watched the Dradis screen as the ships surrounding Earth finally began to respond to his fleets approach. Nearly three hundred were breaking orbit and moving to intercept the Cylon fleet. "What is the make up of that approaching fleet?" he demanded already anticipating the battle.

"Our long range scanners indicate one hundred and forty of their battle cruisers, forty eight of their heavier ships, and one hundred and twenty of the smaller escort ships, no signs of any fighters," the Doral model reported.

"No fighters," Darien mused surprised. That would make it all the easier.

"We are detecting massive energy readings from the ships," a Simon model reported then continued warningly. "That could be dangerous; we don't know what level of technology we are dealing with here."

"Bah, they won't be able to withstand a mass attack by our raiders," Darien replied wanting to crush these ships then continue to the planet and nuke it. "Order all raiders to launch, hold back ten percent as a defensive screen for our Base ships and Support ships."

"That will still give us ten thousand raiders for use in the attack," an eight replied agreeing with Darien's plan of attack. It would be just like back at Virgon when they had overwhelmed Admiral Nagala.

"Arm all the heavy raiders with nukes," Darien continued not wanting to take any chances. "If these ships are more powerful then I believe, then we will use the heavy raiders to deliver a massive nuclear strike against their fleet."

"What about the planet?" a number six asked looking at Darien challengingly. "Are you sure you want to destroy it?"

"What is it with your model?" Darien demanded letting anger edge into his voice. "You opposed our attack on the Colonies and now you question the decision to destroy this one. Must I remind you that this is Earth! A fully developed human colony that could be dangerous to us. It must be destroyed. I want fifty-megaton nukes in the missile tubes. We will use them on the planet. We will wipe out all life from its surface!"

The six only looked on silently; she was very worried about Darien's mental state. He was so fixated on destroying the humans that she wondered if he was capable of making sound decisions. Her sister had warned her about Darien and now she was seeing the same worrisome behavior. She turned and left the Command Center, she wanted to consult the Hybrid.

The two fleets continued to close, a massive wall of Cylon raiders formed between the two. The raiders began to lock onto targets; they would shortly begin their attack runs in squadron strength. They would use standard missiles first, targeting weapon turrets and missile tubes and then strafing runs with their twin cannons.

The Ovions seeing the threat from the Cylon raiders finally launched their own fighters and nearly forty five hundred Ovion fighters began closing with the inbound Cylon raiders.

The Earth ships have launched fighters," an eight reported from her position at tactical where she was monitoring the Earth fleet. "They are not vipers but another variant of space fighter."

"Order our raiders to intercept them and destroy them," Darien ordered aggravated that he couldn't use his raiders against the humans as he had planned. He would have to destroy their fighters first before the raiders could proceed and attack the human fleet.

In moments, the two forces were locked in a massive dogfight with numerous explosions lighting up space as missiles and cannons found their targets. Both Cylon raiders and Ovion fighters were dying rapidly from the vicious attacks each was using. Orange blossoms of fire consumed Cylon raiders and Ovion fighters as weapons struck home wrecking massive carnage to both sides.

Aboard the Zeus Captain Landers watched in awe the massive swirling dogfight knowing that Cylon raiders and Ovion fighters were dying by the hundreds. "Make sure we get all of this recorded," he ordered not taking his eyes off the screens.

"The Cylon Basestars are coming into weapons range of the Ovions," Denise spoke from where she was monitoring the battle at her computer station in the CIC, making sure all the data from the sensor probes was being recorded.

"This should be interesting," Captain Landers spoke his eyes watching the view screens and the large sensor screen. The CIC was quiet as everyone's eyes were glued to the screens.

In space, the Ovion warships began launching missiles at the approaching Cylon Basestars. The battle cruisers and then the Dreadnaughts expelled hundreds of missiles from their missile tubes, which streaked away toward their targets.

The Cylons also came into range of the Ovions and began emptying their own missile tubes, missile after missile erupted from the Basestars missile tubes carrying their nuclear cargo of death and destruction toward the Ovion fleet.

The Ovion missiles arrived first and nuclear blasts began to roll across the Cylon formation. Raiders darted everywhere using their twin cannons to shoot down many of the missiles. Then it was the defense batteries of the Basestars that began firing in rapid automatic defensive mode taking out missile after inbound missile, but there were so many that some were beginning to get through. Six missiles struck a Basestar incinerating it in a series of massive nuclear explosions. Others were taking heavy damage and still the missiles came.

The Cylon missile attack struck the Ovions; many of the missiles were shot down by defensive batteries or were stopped by the energy shields protecting the ships. However, the Cylons had launched so many missiles that some of the energy shields protecting the fleet began to fail. A battle cruiser exploded as three nuclear missiles struck the ships unprotected hull. Scout ships began to die rapidly as the energy shields of the smaller ships were overwhelmed. Nuclear fire ravaged the Ovion formation.

Darien was flung to the floor as a nuclear missile struck the Command Basestar tearing off one spire and severely damaging another. Standing back up he looked angrily around the Command Center daring anyone to say anything.

"Order our heavy raiders to attack," he demanded looking at a view screen that showed a number of Basestars on fire and several more in the process of breaking apart from on going massive nuclear explosions. "Continue to press the attack. Get us into range of the planet!"

"Darien the human ships have energy shields," a Simon model reported in surprise. "It is taking a number of nuclear strikes to bring them down!"

"Of course they do," Darien replied fuming at the ignorance his fellow Cylons showed at times. "The two human ships we encountered back at their base did also. Did you expect that these human ships would not be similarly equipped?"

Eleven hundred Cylon heavy raiders appeared around the Ovions ships, many of which had suffered heavy damage from the initial Cylon nuke strike. More then a few had seen their energy shields stripped and then been blown apart by fifty kiloton nukes. Numerous ships were on fire or damaged in the Ovion battle line. The Ovion ships were in the process of launching even more nukes as they moved into KEW range of the Cylons.

Ovion defense batteries locked rapidly onto the new targets and blasted nearly three hundred of the heavy raiders into oblivion before their systems stabilized from the jump. Then the remaining eight hundred heavy raiders launched sixteen hundred twenty kiloton nuclear missiles at the Ovion ships.

"Holy frak," Captain Landers said in amazement seeing the simultaneous jump of the eleven hundred raiders around the Ovions. "No wonder the Cylons defeated the Colonies, how can you defend against something like that?"

"Vipers," Denise replied making sure she was recording everything to show to Admiral Stone later. "Viper squadrons could take out most of those heavy raiders before they could lock on target if there were enough of them. That's why the Colonies had their Battlestars and the large amount of vipers and raptors they carried."

The Ovions desperately tried to knock down the incoming Cylon missiles from the heavy raiders, at the same time defending from more incoming missiles from the Basestars. However, there were just too many missiles. Energy shield after energy shield was knocked down and nuclear fire raged throughout the Ovion fleet formation. The Ovion scout ships were wiped out, their weaker energy shields and defensive batteries unable to cope with the massive missile attack. All but forty-two of the heavy cruisers vanished in nuclear balls of fire. Of the Dreadnaughts, only six were destroyed, the others continued to fire on the Cylon fleet and now their heavy KEW batteries began to fire.

Darien felt his Command Basestar shudder again as a KEW round struck the damaged spire destroying the rest of it, causing it to break off from the ship. "Report," he demanded looking at the view screen, which showed the nuclear carnage in the Earth fleet. He knew that his own fleet had suffered heavily also.

"We have lost fourteen of our Basestars, six more are heavily damaged," a Simon model reported grimly. "We have also lost eight of the Support ships."

"Pull all of our surviving raiders into a defensive formation around our remaining Basestars," Darien ordered his face showing intense aggravation at the resistance these humans were putting up. He had expected the heavy raider strike to finish them off, but their most powerful ships were still advancing. "All surviving heavy raiders are to return to the Support ships to be rearmed for another nuke strike. Continue to advance the fleet toward the planet. We must get in range to use our nukes!"

Captain Landers watched on the view screen, which was picking up its video from one of the sensor probes placed just outside of the battle zone where the two fleets were engaged. The Cylons had pulled all their fighters into a dense defensive globe around their Basestars and Support ships, which were effectively knocking down all the incoming Ovion nuclear missiles. The surviving Ovion fighters were now knocking down many of the inbound Cylon missiles aimed at their fleet as well. KEW round were still penetrating and occasionally massive explosions could be seen on Cylon ships as a round impacted and penetrated.

The Cylons drove into the heart of the Ovion formation intent on reaching missile range of the planet. The Ovion ships still in orbit about Carillon broke off and moved out to engage the Cylon ships recognizing the threat. Ovion nuclear missiles were now going off in the heart of the Cylon raider formations trying to clear a path to the Cylon Basestars and Support ships. Space was lit up with the constant detonation of nuclear missiles. Raiders began dieing by the hundreds as nuclear warheads exploded throughout their defensive formation.

Darien groaned and swore as another Basestar exploded and two more fell out of formation. The second heavy raider strike was ready to be launched and he planned to use it to blow a hole through the Earth formation. He knew that the resurrection ships back in the previous system would be busy downloading all the Cylons that were dying in this battle. He was not afraid to die, but he was determined to destroy this last human world!

Hundreds of heavy raiders appeared throughout the Ovion formation. However, the Ovions had been expecting this and their own fighters were ready. Heavy raiders began to explode as Ovion fighters blew them apart or defensive fire from the warships shattered their hulls. Of the six hundred heavy raiders that jumped only one hundred and twelve managed to fire their missiles. However, it was enough to shred another twenty-two Ovion ships into molten metal and gas from the nuclear strikes.

"Move us in," Darien screamed elated seeing a chance to finally strike the planet.

The surviving Basestars and Support ships moved through the Ovion formation taking more missile and KEW strikes. Every Basestar and Support ship was on fire or heavily damaged but they were almost in missile range of the planet. The Support ships were only being used for decoys, as they were not heavily armed. Their main and nearly only defenses were the raiders, which had been decimated by the Ovion nuke strikes.

The eight surviving Basestars launched one hundred and forty fifty-megaton missiles at the planet. Ovion Dreadnaughts blasted two more Cylon Basestars apart in nuclear fire just as the last missile was launched. Then the Dreadnaughts began closing to destroy the rest. The orbiting Ovion defense grid locked onto the incoming missiles and knocked down one hundred and twenty two but eighteen flashed through and impacted on the planet.

Darien looked with elation at the view screen as nuclear death struck the planet below. Huge flashes of light appeared on the surface as the nukes detonated. Even as he watched, another of his Basestars was blown apart and two more Support ships became small stars as nuclear missiles finally penetrated the weakened raider screen. His own Command Center was full of smoke and several small fires had broken out. "Prepare a second strike," he ordered hurriedly realizing that not enough missiles had reached the surface.

"Darien," an eight spoke turning to face him her face covered in shock and coughing heavily from the smoke. "We have a raider that has video from the surface of this planet's inhabitants. They are not human!"

"What!" Darien exclaimed glancing up at a view screen that showed several of the insect like Ovions. Sudden gut wrenching realization set in. "The humans tricked us!"

On the Zeus Denise checked several of the readings on her sensors then changed the main view screen to show a close-up of Carillon. Massive fiery fissures could be see spreading across the surface.

"What's happening?" Captain Landers asked looking at the screen in surprise and confusion.

"It's the veins of Tylium ore," Denise replied looking at Captain Landers. "The Cylons used fifty megaton bombs and the explosions have ignited what is left of the planets Tylium deposits. I think the planet is going to explode!"

On Carillon, massive eruptions began to shake the planet as the burning Tylium began to make the entire planet unstable. Cities collapsed and massive earthquakes began to roll across the surface leveling everything. Ovions died by the millions and then by the hundreds of millions.

On board the Command Basestar Darien looked in anger and frustration at the view screen as Carillon turned into a small sun in a massive explosion. "Frak," he spoke as the explosive wave front rolled over what was left of the Cylon fleet vaporizing it. The wave front continued on taking out most of the Ovion war fleet, a few of the Dreadnaughts fartherest away managed to turn and jump just before the destruction over took them, but Carillon was gone. Just a faintly glowing gaseous nebula was all that was left of a world.

Two days later Jason looked at the main view screen at the blue and white planet they were orbiting. The fleet was in orbit around New Kobol. Everything looked just like it did when they had fled the system the last time. Only this time there was no signs of any Ovions. He had watched the video and data feeds that the Zeus had gathered in the Carillon system and watched fascinated as Carillon had exploded taking the Cylon fleet and the majority of the Ovion fleet along with it. He had never expected anything like that.

He looked around the CIC as the crew did their jobs in a much more relaxed atmosphere. The threat of imminent destruction and death was gone. It was as if a huge burden had been lifted off everyone's backs.

Jason planned on staying in the New Kobol system for several days while fleet technicians went over every ship in the fleet for needed repairs, particularly the FTL drives. After running for so long almost every ship in the fleet, including the military ones needed a thorough inspection done to critical systems. There had been no sign of any Ovion ships or patrols. Jason suspected that what was left of the Ovions were probably fleeing this area of space. New Kobol was as safe as anywhere else to do the necessary repairs.

"I wish we could have gotten the Cylon resurrection ships," Major Dyson spoke softly from across the operation's table. "They will take word back to the Cylons that we survived. They will come looking for us."

"I know," Jason replied in agreement turning to look at the Major. "But we will make it to Demeter now and by the time the Cylons find us we will be ready for them. It will be many months possibly several years before the Cylons come back out this way. When they do we will be ready for them!"

"Admiral I have a Dradis contact off our port side," Lt. Emerson spoke excitedly. "It's a Kobolan battle cruiser!"

"The Zeus?" Major Dyson asked raising her eyebrows in surprise. The Zeus was supposed to be out placing several FTL sensor buoys in nearby star systems. There were several others already in place in a number of other systems put there by the Kobolan reconnasaince force several months back. This would allow them to monitor the space around the New Kobol system for possible threats.

"It's not the Zeus," Lt. Johnson reported her eyes widening. "It's the Hera and I have Admiral Crius on the com!"

Jason looked over at Major Dyson in surprise. "What is he doing out here?" Tapping his mini com Jason spoke, "Admiral I wasn't expecting you."

"I realize that Admiral Stone," Admiral Crius replied. "Please inform your ships that a number of Kobolan ships will shortly appear around your fleet. I don't want to scare your civilians or get fired upon accidentally by your warships."

Jason quickly issued the warning to the fleet and then watched the Dradis screen as nine more Kobolan battle cruisers and twenty escort ships suddenly appeared on Dradis. The ships had obviously been in stealth mode.

On board the Nichen Admiral Muray felt immensely relieved upon seeing the Kobolan ships and the firepower they represented. He knew now that the fleet was safe, if any Cylons or Ovions attacked, they would be dealt with.

Andrea Nagala smiled upon seeing the Kobolan ships. At least now, the civilians could recover from their jump sickness. She seriously doubted if they would be doing multiple jumps anymore. "Don let's get a count of how many civilians we have on the hospital ships suffering from jump sickness. Let's try to get that number significantly reduced in the two days that Admiral Stone promised us."

Colonel Welling looked in amazement and relief at the Kobolan ships on the Dradis and the view screens of the Super Colony ship Tiber. He knew that with the arrival of these ships he would not have to worry about leaving any civilians behind. They would all go to Demeter together.

"We would have been here sooner Admiral Stone but we had some unfinished business we had to tidy up," Admiral Crius spoke in his casual command voice.

"What kind of business Admiral?" Jason asked feeling confused.

"We had FTL sensor buoys scattered in a number of the star systems around the Ovion's home system," Admiral Crius began. "I brought this fleet to the New Kobal system knowing that you would probably pass this way, especially after speaking with the Commander of the Aires. If the Cylons were following you, we planned on throwing a wrench into their plans. We were shocked to see your entire fleet jump into the Ovion system and then later the Cylons."

"It was a desperate plan Admiral," Jason replied glad that it had worked and knowing deep in his heart that it shouldn't have. Perhaps there was some truth to these Gods of Kobol after all. "I didn't see any other choice; we couldn't lead them back to Demeter or Terra."

"Of course not," Admiral Crius replied in agreement. "There was no way you could know that we were here. You could imagine our amazement when the Cylons attacked the Ovions and later Carillon exploded. You solved a major future problem for Terra and we are in your debt!"

"You have furnished us a safe place to go to Admiral," Jason responded thinking about the massive defense grid around Demeter. "That is all we need for now. A safe place to recover and for our people to start over again."

"Perhaps," Admiral Crius replied. "But we have already started to repay that debt. We noticed a small group of Cylon ships that had not jumped into the Carillon system on one of our FTL sensor buoys. They left two Basestars, two Support ships, four Resurrection ships, and their secondary Hub in the system the Cylon fleet jumped from."

"Resurrections ships, how do you know about them?" Jason asked surprised at the Admiral mentioning them, and what the frak was a secondary Hub?

"We found several human Cylons in the Aires fleet," Admiral Crius said. "When they arrived in the Demeter system we had the entire group of survivors go through our standard medical screenings to be on the safe side. We detected anomalies in several; upon questioning, we discovered their Cylon nature. Under interrogation we learned quite a bit from them."

"What's this secondary Hub you're talking about?" Jason asked. He had never heard of this before.

"Evidently the Cylons built two ships to travel with their fleet on long range missions to allow them to download and resurrect in their resurrection ships. The Hubs have huge subspace communication arrays and computer systems which facilitate the download process when a Cylon is killed."

"I assume those ships have jumped back toward Cylon space by now," Jason commented wishing he could have intercepted them with one of the two battle groups that Admiral Muray had formed.

"No they didn't," Admiral Crius replied in a satisfied and pleased voice. "As you know our ships are capable of much longer FTL jumps then yours. I ordered my fleet to make several consecutive long FTL jumps and we jumped right into the middle of the Cylon resurrection fleet. We destroyed every Cylon vessel without suffering any loses to ourselves. They were taken completely by surprise."

"Then the Cylons will have no clue what happened to their fleet or the direction we have gone," Jason commented realizing the significance of this news. "But that was two days ago, where have you been since then?"

"Hunting down and destroying every Ovion ship we could find," Admiral Crius replied with intense satisfaction in his voice. "We had a lot of FTL sensor buoys planted in the star systems around the Ovion home system and we used them to locate most of the Ovions that escaped Carillon's destruction. I don't think more then a few got away from us."

"Then it's over, at least for a while," Jason added thoughtfully, feeling the burden he had been carrying on his shoulders gradually fade away. "The Ovions are gone and the Cylons don't know where Demeter is."

"We must speak to the President and the Quorum when we return to Demeter and then on to Terra," Admiral Crius replied pleased with the way things had turned out. "Without the Ovion threat they may just be willing to help you with the Cylons, I will definitely recommend that course of action."

Six weeks later Jason was in the nearly empty CIC of the Titania looking at the main view screen. Only a minimal crew was still on board, everyone else had been granted two weeks leave.

It had been a busy week since they had gotten back to Demeter. Admiral Crius and Emissary Osiris had already returned to Terra to discuss what help the Kobolans could be in the Colonial's war with the Cylons. Jason would be departing to Terra on board the Battlestar Olympia in another few days, as well as several other military officers to discuss the situation back in the Colonies.

"So what now?" Major Dyson asked standing beside Jason looking at the view screen, which was focused on the shipyard that was in orbit around Demeter. She could see that more construction was still occurring all around the shipyard as construction robots were scurrying around everywhere under the watchful supervision of a number of raptors that were hovering close by. They still looked like spiders to her!

"Counting the military crews and everyone that came with the original Colony Fleet, we have nearly five hundred thousand Colonials here now," Jason replied glancing at Major Dyson.

Jason knew that the Kobolans were hurrying the construction of the new cities that they had begun before Jason and his fleet had left to return to the Colonies. They had been expecting tourists not refugees. It would only be a matter of a few more weeks before they had housing for everyone. For now those that could not come down to the surface were being housed in the large Passenger liners and the Super Colony ships.

"But there are still a lot of people back home under Cylon occupation," Major Dyson replied not wanting to imagine the horror those people must be feeling.

"I know," Jason replied. "There is also the Battlestar Galactica and her refugee fleet and possibly several others. I don't know if it's even feasible for us to try to find them. The galaxy is a large place to look for ships fleeing the Cylons. Even with the aid of the Kobolans, we don't have the resources for that type of search. We just have to pray that they all find a safe place to settle down some day."

"What about Admiral Clements?" Major Dyson asked. Jason had informed her about what Admiral Kronus had revealed about the possibility of the Fleet Admiral surviving.

"That's the big question," Jason replied turning his attention back to the main view screen. "Admiral Clements may have the largest collection of survivors and military ships. If he really has a safe place to go as Admiral Kronus said, there is no doubt in my mind that he will strike back at the Cylons as soon as he can."

"Then what should we do?" Major Dyson asked, wondering what their future had in store for them.

"All of our warships will be fully updated to Kobolan standards," Jason replied. The Aires has already left for Terra. They have a construction dock that is big enough for her." Gesturing toward the shipyard on the view screen, he continued. "Already we are preparing to lay the hulls for four new Jupiter Class Battlestars; all based on the Kobolan redesigns. Someday, when we are ready, we will return to the Colonies and seek out Admiral Clements and drive the Cylons from our homes!"

Major Dyson nodded; if Admiral Stone believed it possible then she would follow him. So would the entire crew!

Down on Demeter, Karl, Cynthia, Susan, Emily, Aaron, and Denise were having a picnic out by the river that ran through Paradeen. They were several kilometers from the city where they could enjoy their privacy.

"I can't believe we are back here," Cynthia said with a large smile on her face remembering their last picnic in this very same place. She could still picture Karl and his fish!

"So much has happened," Karl added taking Cynthia's hand and squeezing gently looking into her eyes. "I'm just glad we all made it."

"We were lucky," Aaron commented wishing he knew what had happened to his sister back in the Colonies. He glanced at Emily feeling even more protective of her then usual.

"I heard that Andrea Nagala is already sending out some of her mining ships to several of the nearby systems looking for resources," Susan spoke recalling some of the conversations she had overheard.

"We will need them if we are going to fight the Cylons," Aaron replied grimly. "This war isn't over yet, not if I know Admiral Stone!"

"I spoke to my father who knows several members of the Quorum," Denise said looking around the close knit group. "They are already talking about setting up a forward base on New Kobal and putting a new defense grid around the planet."

"That would be a good buffer between us and the Cylons," Aaron commented thoughtfully.

"They are also considering sending several battle cruisers back to the Colonies to monitor what is happening there," Denise added. "With the cruisers stealth fields the Cylons wouldn't know the battle cruisers are there."

Everyone was silent for several moments thinking about the future that lay ahead. Then Karl looking at Cynthia who nodded back, stood up together still holding hands. "I spoke to Admiral Stone earlier today," Karl began with a nervous smile. "I asked him if he would consider Sealing Cynthia and I and he agreed."

"That's great!" Susan exclaimed rising to her feet and giving both a big hug.

"Becoming husband and wife," Aaron laughed standing up and shaking Karl's hand. "I couldn't be happier for you."

"One of us will probably have to be transferred off the Titania," Cynthia replied feeling a little intimidated by all the sudden attention from their friends.

"Well you can't raise a family on a Gunstar," Emily commented with a teasing smile.

Cynthia blushed slightly, she and Karl had discussed having kids someday, they just weren't sure when.

The six sat around on the thick grass talking until late in the evening, watching as the lights in Paradeen came on lighting up the horizon. Demeter was now a full fledged Colony with the advent of the refugees. The six friends knew that someday the Cylons would learn that there was still another Colonial Colony out in the Galaxy!

**THE END**

**For Now!**

Author's note: In the original Battlestar Galactica show and book the Tylium ore inside Carillon was ignited by laser fire from several laser pistols, one of the pistols being Apollo's. When the planet exploded the Baseship of the Cylon leader was destroyed.

This story was originally not supposed to be this long. It was supposed to be a teaser for Battlestar Aurora, which I will put up sometime in January. If I had to do this over, this story would be twice as long and I would have developed the characters much more and gone into more detail in some areas.

Battlestar Aurora is two time longer then Gunstar Titania and only lacks the final two chapters to be written. I wanted to finish this story before I finished the other. Battlestar Aurora does spend more time developing characters and goes into a lot more detail about the fall of the Colonies and other situations.

I will also probably right a short story about Admiral Reed's attack on the Cylon shipyards. If I do, it will probably be three to four chapters long.

I know some of you are wondering if Admiral Stone and the Kobolans will show up in Battlestar Aurora. All I will say for now is I am considering that possibility.

Thanks for reading this story and I hope you enjoyed it. I certainly had fun writing it.


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